“Gonna be special”: Jurgen Klopp believes Liverpool defender has bright future

Liverpool’s backline has mainly remained untested by its youth players since a young Trent Alexander-Arnold broke into the team in 2016. While that speaks larger volumes to the successful scouting of the club than it does of the academy, no doubt Liverpool would love to see another homegrown player become a star in the defence.

That next player could be 20-year-old Jarell Quansah, who has already earned multiple starts this season for the Reds. While it will sting for Quansah that VAR ruled out his stoppage time equalizer against Toulouse, he has to be happy with his progress this season under Jurgen Klopp.

Before their match against Toulouse in the Europa League, Klopp spoke about Quansah’s growth this season [via Fabrizio Romano].

"“We rejected some loan proposals for Quansah last summer and it was obviously a very good decision. He showed from the first day of pre season how good of a player he is. He has huge potential, I’m sure. Gonna be special”."

Jarell Quansah’s inclusion in the first team came as a bit of a shock, given the player had only made his professional debut last season with Bristol Rovers in League One this past January. Quansah is originally from Warrington but has been in Liverpool’s academy since 2008. Born in 2003, Quansah is an English U21 international but remains eligible for Scotland, Ghana and Barbados.

Liverpool has already clinched a knockout spot in the Europa League, meaning Quansah could find himself with at least another start in European competition in the remaining group-stage games.

Undoubtedly, Ibrahima Konate is seen as the long-term option at right centre-back. Quansah is capable of playing on either side and perhaps can be seen as an eventual successor to Virgil Van Dijk for the spot on the left side. It is too early to put that sort of pressure on the player, but as Jurgen Klopp has stated, he does have huge potential.