Chelsea were hoping to make a statement deadline day signing, but instead their top target is going elsewhere within the Premier League. As has been widely reported, Jérémy Jacquet is set to join Liverpool for £55 million, plus £5 million in achievable odd-ons.
Despite this sizeable fee, as well as Arne Slot's desperate need for defensive reinforcements, the 20 year old will remain at Stade Rennais for the remainder of the campaign, before moving to Merseyside in the summer. The centre-back has made 18 Ligue 1 appearances for les Rouge et Noirs this season, starting every match he has been available for, a key reason why Habib Beye's side are sat sixth in the table.
Jacquet is exactly the profile of a player Chelsea have signed en masse during the Clearlake Capital-era, so why is he heading to Anfield rather than Stamford Bridge, and will the Blues live to regret missing out on him?
Why Chelsea missed out on Jérémy Jacquet
Jérémy Jacquet is not West London-bound for two simple reasons, really. Liverpool acted more decisively and, well, they spent money. Jacquet is obviously a talented player, but £60 million is a lot of money for a player who has just 36 top-flight appearances to his name, loaned out to Clermont Foot in Ligue 2 for the first half of last season.
So, while Chelsea have raided France for talent, aided by the fact BlueCo also own Strasbourg, Jacquet may have proved too expensive.
Chelsea signings from Ligue 1 under Clearlake
Player | Age when signed | Club | Fee |
|---|---|---|---|
Malo Gusto | 19 | Lyon | £26.3m |
Benoît Badiashile | 21 | Monaco | £35m |
Lesley Ugochukwu | 19 | Rennes | £23.2m |
Axel Disasi | 25 | Monaco | £38.5m |
Mathis Amougou | 19 | Saint-Étienne | £12.5m |
Mamadou Sarr | 19 | Strasbourg | £11.8m |
Ishé Samuels-Smith | 19 | Strasbourg | £6.5m |
To date, Chelsea have signed seven players from Ligue 1, or Ligue 2 in Saint-Étienne's case, clubs since 2022. Of this list, only Malo Gusto has really established himself as a key figure, with Lesley Ugochukwu, Mathis Amougou, Mamadou Sarr and Ishé Samuels-Smith making no discernible impact to date.
Axel Disasi meanwhile, the most-expensive of the recruits, has not represented the Blues for over a year, the club actively spending the last three transfer windows attempting to find him a new permanent home, to no avail. Luckily, his contract expires in just three and a half years!
Perhaps this is why Chelsea did not splash the cash to recruit Jacquet. Such a young and inexperienced player, particularly a centre-back, would need time to develop, thereby potentially not justifying spending a huge amount of money to recruit them. In fact, in their entire history, Chelsea have only spent more than £60 million on only seven players:
Chelsea's most-expensive signings of all-time
Players | Selling club | Year joined | Fee |
|---|---|---|---|
Moisés Caicedo | Brighton | 2023 | £115m |
Enzo Fernández | Benfica | 2023 | £107m |
Romelu Lukaku | Internazionale | 2021 | £97.5m |
Wesley Fofana | Leicester City | 2022 | £75m |
Kepa Arrizabalaga | Athletic Club | 2018 | £72m |
Kai Havertz | Bayer Leverkusen | 2020 | £71m |
Mykhailo Mudryk | Shakhtar Donetsk | 2023 | £62m |
While the majority of Chelsea's most-expensive signings of all-time have not worked out, looking at you Lukaku, Kepa and Mudryk, they have all been recruited with the intention of going straight into the starting lineup.
Thus, it appears as though Jacquet was not deemed ready to do so. Todd Boehly runs Chelsea more like a player trading platform than a football club, so it seems to have been deemed too difficult to ultimately make a profit on a player if £60m is required to recruit them. Will this prove to be a shrewd decision, or will Jacquet turn into Liverpool's Virgil van Dijk successor? Only time will tell.