French World Cup winner Christophe Dugarry has branded Liverpool “idiots” for spending £60million on signing Jeremy Jacquet.
However, European football expert Andy Brassell has argued that the fee gives an indication of where the transfer market is currently.
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Liverpool completed the biggest deal of deadline day by fending off competition from Chelsea and signing Jacquet to a long-term contract.
The Pitch Prospect understands the Reds have initially agreed £55m to sign the defender, with a further £5m to be paid in possible add-ons.
The Frenchman has now surpassed the £52m transfer fee spent by Manchester City on Jeremy Doku, becoming Rennes’ record sale.
Still, his compatriot Dugarry had a hesitant opinion about Liverpool making Jacquet the second-most expensive defender of all time behind Virgil van Dijk, having made just 55 first-team appearances.
Liverpool are “crazy” about Jacquet transfer
Speaking on RMC radio show Rothen s’enflamme, Dugarry – who won the World Cup with France in 1998 – described the fee as “ridiculous”.
He said: “That’s not to insult the player, to be honest, he’s not at fault at all and we wish him all the best because he’s a good player.”
“But when you have idiots like that… congratulations to Rennes.”
“Rennes managed to find a sucker like Liverpool.” [willing to pay] 70 million euros (60 million pounds).”
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“Where the market currently stands”
Brassell, a regular at Trans Europe Express, took a different view and instead pointed to the fees spent by Liverpool’s rivals.
In 2024, Man United paid £52m for Leny Yoro, while Chelsea spent £37m to bring Jorrel Hato to Stamford Bridge last summer.
On Jacquet, Brassell told The Pitch Prospect.com: “He’s got huge potential. There’s no doubt about that.”
“And of course we had players like Christophe Dugarry in France. It’s crazy to spend so much money on a player who has over 30 team games under his belt.”
“You just have to realize whether you understand it or not, that’s the current state of the market.”
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“The fact is that elite clubs prefer to pay money for excellent young players who they believe are developing or will develop into the absolute top players of tomorrow, rather than for players who are already in their prime now.”
“Part of it has to be the finances and the fact that they have some resale value. That has to be part of it.”
Liverpool have been looking for a new centre-back for over a year and missed out on a final signing with Marc Guehi in August.
Teenager Giovanni Leoni arrived from Parma for £26million as he is believed to be Van Dijk’s long-term successor.
But the 19-year-old Italian suffered a cruciate ligament injury on his Debut for the club in September and it is unlikely he will feature again this season.
New signing Jacquet will also not play for the Reds this season as his transfer to Liverpool is not official until July 1st.
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The French U21 international had been strongly linked with Chelseabefore being persuaded to move to Merseyside.
His compatriot Ibrahima Konate is out of contract at the end of the season and will, as things stand, end his five-year term at the club.
“In terms of a football move, I think it makes a lot of sense because it feels to me like Liverpool sold him as part of the succession plan,” Brassell added to The Pitch Prospect.com.
“The fact that Konate probably won’t be around in the summer, the fact that Virgil van Dijk is past his prime, I think it’s fair to say.”
“So there is a chance and of course last summer they also brought in Leoni for the future, although he was held back by his injury.”
“At one of the biggest clubs in the world there is an opportunity to secure a place in the eleven, not just in the squad.”
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Liverpool’s other options
The Athletic’s James Pearce gave the lowdown on The Pitch Prospect’s Inside Liverpool YouTube show and explained how the deal came about.
“The deal for Jeremy Jacquet happened really quickly at the weekend. Liverpool have been watching his progress for a long time. He first came to attention when he was part of the French team that reached the final of the 2024 European Under-19 Championship in Northern Ireland.”
“He was then named in the team of the tournament. He then had a good loan spell at Rennes. That brought him into the senior national team when he returned. He has gotten stronger and stronger.”
“All the data, which Liverpool obviously rely heavily on in their recruitment, showed that he was quickly recognized as one of the most talented young centre-backs in European football.
“Especially given the fact that Liverpool knew Chelsea were in discussion. It was actually a case of ‘now or never’.
“So sporting director Richard Hughes intensified talks at the weekend and managed to complete the deal with Rennes.
“I think it was non-negotiable. Liverpool would have liked to get him now, but that wasn’t an option. Rennes wanted the rest of the season.”
“They were now only willing to do a deal for him to move to another club in the summer. Liverpool have managed to overtake Chelsea because of the route they had mapped out for him.
“You see him coming and playing a big, big role. Firstly next season to fight for a place alongside Van Dijk.”
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Despite the well-known injury problems in his defensive team, Slot did not bring in older players.
Conor Bradley and Giovanni Leoni are out for the rest of the season, while Joe Gomez, Jeremie Frimpong and Ibrahima Konate are on-again, off-again injury problems.
Speaking on The Pitch Prospect’s Inside Liverpool programme, former boxer Paul Smith said: “If something were to happen to Konate or Van Dijk, God forbid, then we have to limit ourselves to the essentials. We’re talking about people like Endo or Gravenberg who have to play in central defence.”
Liverpool were exploring options for short-term security and talks over a loan deal for Lutsharel Geertruida increased.
Geertruida is currently on loan at Sunderland from RB Leipzig.
Pearce added: “They looked at a number of possible bridging gaps. They never intended to just buy a body and pay £10m to £15m for a defender who might only do a half-job until the end of the season.”
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“Then you ask yourself what should we do with him in the summer? That’s not the way Liverpool do business. But they have looked at short-term options.
“Geertruida was certainly the most likely case. There was a time probably on Sunday morning when the people I spoke to felt that this could well have happened. Geertruida herself wanted it to happen.”
“Sunderland were open to the idea of terminating his loan as there was an agreement with Leipzig.
“Leipzig were open to loaning him out to Liverpool for the rest of the season. Slot knows him very, very well from their time together at Feyenoord and he really admires his versatility as he could have done a job for Liverpool at right-back, centre-back and even as a defensive midfielder if required.”
“In the end it was just too complex because Sunderland made it clear they needed a replacement.”
“By late Sunday afternoon it was quite obvious that Sunderland were struggling and would not be able to get the player they wanted in order to have their loan terminated approved.
“So that’s basically it. So I don’t feel like there’s a lot of unease in the fan base that they didn’t hire someone right away. I share that to a certain extent.
“It was a positive weekend getting Konate back. Frimpong is only out for a few weeks and Joe Gomez should be available for the Man City game on Sunday.”
“It just feels like a gamble to me that they’re skinny back there and now they really need some luck to keep people fit.”