00:00Virgil van Dijk turns 35 this summer, and while that's still quite young in most workplaces,
00:04in elite men's professional football, more often than not, that means you're over the hill.
00:08The Dutchman has spent the past eight years at Anfield, winning everything there is to win.
00:13He's been a tremendous servant to the Reds, and if this season is his last,
00:17he's earned the right to ride off into the sun on his own terms.
00:20What Liverpool have done to guard against van Dijk's inevitable departure,
00:23whether it be this summer or next, is sign two of Europe's best young central defenders.
00:28That should do it.
00:29Giovanni Leone and Jeremy Jacquet are the young defenders with the unenviable task
00:33of showing Liverpool fans what life will be like after van Dijk.
00:37I'm Joe Donoghue, welcome back to the Boys A Bit special,
00:39a 4-4-2 series highlighting the best and brightest teenagers in world football.
00:44There's the header, it's the 18-year-old Giovanni Leone.
00:47Giovanni Leone probably didn't envisage the start to his Liverpool career going as terribly as it did.
00:52On his debut, Leone suffered an anterior cruciate ligament injury,
00:55ruling him out for the entire 2025-26 season.
00:58How's your luck?
00:59What was billed as a season of gradual integration, learning the ropes from van Dijk and Ibrahima
01:04Kanate, quickly became a year of rehabilitation, recuperation and time in the gym.
01:10Leone is expected to return by the time 2026-27 rolls around,
01:14and a full pre-season will likely do him a world of good.
01:16But, as a result of his injury, Liverpool fans have seen very little,
01:20so can't really see how suited he is to replacing the ever-present van Dijk.
01:24The scouting team at 4-4-2 HQ, both of which definitely exist,
01:28have palled over the data and the clips to bring you the following.
01:31And we feel quite confident in saying,
01:33drumroll please,
01:34the boy's a bit special.
01:38Leone came through at local club Parova, in Italy's lower leagues.
01:41He made his debut there at 16 years old, back in March 2023,
01:45making him the youngest professional footballer in Italy that season.
01:48He joined Sampdoria for 1.5 million euros,
01:51spent half a season in Serie B,
01:53before top flight side Parma said,
01:55actually, we'd quite like that big brute of a centre-half you've just bought, Sampdoria.
01:59You know what? We'll pay four times what you did.
02:02Fast forward 12 months, and after a season battling relegation,
02:05Liverpool deemed Leone worth £26 million,
02:08and worthy of a six-year contract.
02:11Nice one, Gigi.
02:12So, what was it that convinced the Reds to spend so heavily
02:15on a teenage defender relatively unproven in top-level football?
02:19Well, Leone stands at 6 foot 5 inches tall,
02:22and is probably the only Liverpool player
02:24who can challenge Van Dijk when it comes to aerial defending.
02:27That will have played a big part in Michael Edwards' decision
02:30to bring him to Anfield.
02:31He's a very good judge of a player, as Edwards.
02:33But sometimes, it's as simple as,
02:35bloody hell, look at that massive mobile defender.
02:38He does what our Virgil does.
02:40Leone is, first and foremost, an excellent competitor.
02:43Battling for possession is what he came out the womb doing.
02:45Some of you may have already seen the semi-viral photo of Leone
02:48with his hand inside the collar of Romelu Lukaku's shirt.
02:51The Belgians sat down looking uncharacteristically helpless on the turf.
02:55He won't be bullied.
02:57Leone is a physical, playground bully-style defender,
03:00not afraid to throw his weight around.
03:02He might find himself in hot water with referees occasionally,
03:04but more often than not, he's going to need that physicality
03:07to compete against the Premier League's growing list
03:10of super-sized centre-forwards.
03:12Why is it important Leone is a tall, physically strong presence
03:15at the heart of Liverpool's defence moving forwards?
03:17Well, because that's what it's been predicated on for the past eight years.
03:21Even this season, when some people would have you believe
03:23that Van Dijk's powers are on the way in,
03:26the Liverpool skipper has the best aerial win rate
03:28of any player in the Premier League.
03:3075% according to Opta.
03:32Second in the list is Aston Villa's Amadou Anana,
03:35although he's contested significantly fewer.
03:37And third, Ibrahima Kanate.
03:39You could go as far to say it's a pretty big prerequisite
03:42for whoever fills Van Dijk's size 14s.
03:46And Leone is no slouch either.
03:47Watch any highlight reel of his time at Parma
03:49and you'll see a defender who saunters back to recover possession,
03:53putting his huge stride to good use.
03:55But, if needs be, he can turn the afterburners on
03:57whilst going shoulder to shoulder.
03:59He's the type of defender whose self-assurance
04:01in the way he carries himself breathes confidence into his teammates.
04:04Of course, by the time Leone returns from injury,
04:07he'll have been out of practice for some time.
04:09Almost a year, in fact.
04:10That's likely to have taken its toll on his physicality,
04:14mental readiness and match fitness.
04:16So, don't expect him to be in from the start
04:18on the opening day of next season
04:19or hitting the heights, pun very much intended, straight away.
04:23Over time, though, everything points towards Leone
04:25becoming the Van Dijk replacement Liverpool will sorely need
04:28once the Dutchman calls time on his Anfield stint.
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04:46Jeremy Jacquet, Liverpool have got their man.
04:49The temptation to pronounce the surname of Liverpool's newest signing
04:52like a type of potato or an overcoat is overwhelming,
04:55but this is a very serious football operation at 442,
04:58so you won't be getting any of that here.
05:00We're reliably informed it is pronounced Jeremy Jacquet,
05:04if you'll pardon the Inspector Clouseau-esque delivery.
05:07He's not on Merseyside yet, Jacquet that is, not Steve Martin,
05:10but he is joining the Premier League this summer.
05:13Jacquet currently plays for Stade Rene,
05:15and hopefully I've managed to say that better than Ashley Cole did
05:17during a UEFA draw that one time.
05:20Stade Rennes.
05:21Stade Rennes.
05:22He recently turned 20, stands at 6 foot 2 inches tall,
05:26and cost Liverpool £55 million,
05:28plus a further £5 million in add-ons.
05:31Rennes, the north-western French city where the club is based,
05:34have one of the most prolific academy setups in modern football history.
05:37Ousmane Dembele, Desiree Due, Eduardo Camavinga,
05:40Jorginho Ruta and Matisse Tell are some of the team's recent academy graduates.
05:45But that's not all.
05:46Rafinha, Jeremy Doku, Ismail Assar, Sylvain Wiltor and even Petr Cech
05:50have all passed through the club during the early part of their careers,
05:53before going on to achieve big things in the Premier League and further afield.
05:57I'd like to take this brief moment to say sorry for including a reference to Ismail Assar
06:00in what is ostensibly a Liverpool video.
06:02My bad.
06:03Let's get back on task.
06:05In January 2024, Jacquet made his Rennes debut
06:08before being sent on loan to Clermont Foot, who were destined for the drop.
06:12Over the next 12 months at Clermont, with appearances in Ligue 1 and Ligue 2,
06:15it was decided that Jacquet had developed enough to be recalled by parent club Rennes.
06:20Recently appointed head coach Habib Bey,
06:22once the subject of a Happy Days-themed terrace chant,
06:24figure it out, said to the Rennes hierarchy,
06:27go and get the Jacquet.
06:28They paid 900,000 euros to end his loan early,
06:32and the teenager was thrust straight into a Ligue 1 relegation battle with Rennes.
06:36It was a gamble that paid off almost immediately.
06:39Jacquet slotted in on the left-hand side of a back three, wearing No. 97,
06:43and Rennes didn't concede for the first 355 minutes with Jacquet on the pitch.
06:47Rennes subsequently climbed from 15th, three positions off the bottom of the table,
06:51to 11th.
06:52Job done.
06:53Jacquet was actually in the same youth teams as the aforementioned Matisse Tell and Desiree Douai,
06:58who feel as though they've been around the top levels of European football for the past few years at least.
07:03Jacquet, on the other hand, is only breaking through now,
07:05having had to deal with persistent injuries and growing pains as a youngster.
07:09At the time of recording, Jacquet also happens to be injured,
07:12picking up a shoulder issue shortly after completing his Liverpool move.
07:15No, it had nothing to do with the pen he used to sign the contract.
07:18Needless to say, his injury record is perhaps something to keep an eye on,
07:21particularly as he acclimatises to the physically demanding nature of English football next season.
07:27From a stylistic point of view, Jacquet is slightly different to Leone.
07:30Where the Italian dominates in physical duels,
07:33Jacquet is an excellent reader of the game,
07:35snuffing out danger by anticipating where it'll arise.
07:38That isn't to say Jacquet is some pushover though, because he isn't.
07:41He does both.
07:42It's just, his ability to intercept, be quick over the ground and get to a loose ball before his opponent
07:48is definitely one of his standout attributes.
07:51Supposedly, Chelsea were running Liverpool close for Jacquet's signature.
07:54Arsenal were linked too.
07:55But the likelihood of regular minutes at Anfield swung it in the Reds' favour.
07:59Ibrahima Canate also happens to be one of Jacquet's favourite players.
08:03Nobody tell him about the expiring contract though.
08:05More importantly, given the sheer volume of young central defenders,
08:08many of them French, on Chelsea's books at the moment,
08:11we'd be inclined to agree that picking Liverpool was probably the smart move.
08:15Van Dijk will be a huge miss to Liverpool when the time comes.
08:18But the good thing about being a globally recognised club with immense resources
08:21is you're able to sign the next Van Dijk from under the noses of your closest rivals.
08:26Leone is already in the building, albeit hobbling about on crutches,
08:30and Jacquet will be too sooner rather than later.
08:32Not on crutches.
08:33Will they play together next year?
08:35Probably not all that often.
08:37There'll be a fair amount of hand-holding by Van Dijk if he stays.
08:40And don't rule out Liverpool going for another, more experienced head at centre-back
08:44to bridge the gap between the old guard and the new.
08:47Particularly if Canate moves on to pastures new.
08:49Remember to subscribe to 442 for more Boys A Bit Special,
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09:11Until next time, bye for now.
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