Liverpool and Chelsea went head-to-head for one of France’s brightest defensive talents. Both offered £60m, but only one club played the final move correctly. Here’s how Liverpool beat Chelsea to Jeremy Jacquet and what it means for both sides.
Jeremy Jacquet is a highly talented French defender. He was born in Bondy, France, on July 13, 2005. He began his youth career at Rennes and made his official professional debut in Ligue 1 for the club in a match against Nice on January 13, 2024.
After his debut, the young defender was sent on loan to Clermont Foot. Jacquet stayed at Clermont for 1 year from January 2024 until February 2025, when Rennes decided to cancel his loan and recalled him back to the club.
Since his return, the young French defender became an important figure and element at the French club. Despite his young age, Jeremy demonstrated his leadership qualities, his qualities in every match against every opponent. He is a tall central defender, very strong in aerial duels, and also knows how to play with the ball.
Due to his abilities and performances, Jacquet attracted interest from some of the most important teams in Europe. Two of them, which gave life to a battle in this January transfer market in order to sign the player, were Chelsea and Liverpool.
Both clubs started negotiations with the French club in order to get the French defender. The Blues offered 60 million pounds in order to sign Jacquet, the same offer that was made by Liverpool. But things got complicated for the Blues when it became clear that Acheampong would stay at the club and Sarr would return to Chelsea.
On the other side, Liverpool took advantage of this situation, and they initiated their final attack over the weekend to secure the services of the French defender. So Liverpool made official the signing of Jeremy Jacquet for a fee of 60 million pounds. The defender will stay at Rennes until the end of this season and will be officially a player of the Reds from July 1, 2026. The defender signed a five-year contract with the Champions of the Premier League.
In this way, Chelsea was beaten by a rival like Liverpool in the January transfer market for the talented French defender. Time will prove if Chelsea made a mistake in not securing the services of Jeremy Jacquet.
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