Liverpool have showcased the full strength of their academy over the course of the last seven months.
The Reds have had to rely on those within their youth ranks perhaps a little too much during 2023/24. But injuries to key players have allowed a number of prospects to stride through into the first-team.
Despite the explosive emergence of Conor Bradley, the most impressive of these youngsters has been Jarell Quansah. The centre-back now has 21 appearances under his belt for Liverpool this season and has looked classy and composed in each and every one of them. Quansah’s form has caught the eye of former Reds defender Martin Skrtel, who praised the 21-year-old during an interview with The Athletic today.
“I watched Jarell train last summer and really liked him,” raves Skrtel. “You don’t need to be worried when you put him into the team alongside either Virgil or (Ibrahima) Konate. He can play, he can compete, he’s already faced some of the toughest strikers around.
“You look at his quality and his confidence at such a young age. I don’t want to say he could play every game, but you could certainly count on him as the third-choice centre-back.
“For him to learn playing next to Virgil is a massive advantage for him. Virgil shows him the way to play and that will really help with the next stage of his career.”
Skrtel heaps praise on Quansah
It’s amazing just how quickly Quansah has become a big part of the first-team this season. Rewind back to last summer though, and the signs were already there that it could be a real possibility.
Skrtel won’t have been the only one mightily impressed with Jarell before the campaign began.
Having already been catching the eye for years in the academy, Quansah was finally given his shot during pre-season. And how he took it.
As he has done pretty much ever since, the England U21 international slotted in and looked as though he’d been playing for Liverpool for years.
It’s one thing to do it in friendly games though, another entirely to make the step up to competitive senior football. Somehow, Quansah has made that leap seem remarkably easy.
As Skrtel says, you can now rely on him to be thrown into any game for Liverpool. There are absolutely no qualms about having him on the pitch at all. That’s all credit to Jarell.
There’s little question that this excellent form has saved the Reds millions in the transfer market. How much difference is there, for example, between Quansah this season and Ibrahima Konate’s debut year at Liverpool in 2021/22.
Konate ended that campaign as the Reds best player in a Champions League final. If Liverpool were to play European club football’s biggest game this May, Quansah’s showings this season would suggest that he’d be capable of exactly the same. What a gem.