Jeremy Jacquet has received a huge endorsement from Glen Johnson, who believes the defender has the potential to become the best center-back in Premier League history

Ex-Liverpool star Glen Johnson has made a bold prediction about Jeremy Jacquet, backing the defender to become the best center-back in Premier League history.

Liverpool agreed a deal with Rennes for Jacquet in January before the defender officially joined the club in the summer. Despite missing a significant part of pre-season through injury, he has made an impressive start to life at Anfield under Andoni Iraola.

The 21-year-old has quickly established himself as Virgil van Dijk's first-choice center-back partner, with his performances earning him a first call-up to the France senior squad under new head coach Zinedine Zidane during the most recent international break.

Johnson delivered a glowing assessment of Jacquet, backing the young defender to potentially become the best center-back in Premier League history. He admitted he had not watched the Frenchman play before his move to England, despite having heard positive reports about him.

However, the former Liverpool player was left impressed when he finally saw Jacquet in action, praising his composure on the ball, athleticism, pace, and strength. He believes the 21-year-old has all the attributes required to reach the very top of the game, provided he continues to develop.

"Without a doubt Jacquet is among the best CBs in the league", Johnson told Betarades. "To be honest, I’d never seen him play before he made his way to the Premier League. I’d obviously heard things, but I’d never seen him play. Then obviously when I did see him play, I was like, ‘wow, how have I never seen that before?’ Like you’d think it would be a ram down and exit, like it is in the Premier League.”

“But to me, he has everything. To be so young, he’s so good on the ball, so calm, proper athlete, quick, strong. If he keeps improving, he could literally probably end up being the best center-back the Premier League has ever seen. Of course players like Virgil, they can’t be replaced. But you can get very good players that can perform.

"So you wouldn’t want him to replace Van Dijk, you’d like to keep them both together. You know what I mean. It’s not about replacing van Dijk, but Jacquet can sort of fill that void in terms of like a big character that can dominate strikers the way Virg does. The longer you keep them two together, the longer you have Liverpool rubbing their hands together.”

Johnson also expects Van Dijk to remain at Anfield for another year despite uncertainty surrounding his contract and reported interest from Galatasaray. If Liverpool does need to strengthen its defense, he believes activating the buy-back option for Jarell Quansah would be a sensible move.

“I guess if Van Dijk’s available for free, anything is possible," added the 42-year-old. "I would think, the way he’s still going, Liverpool would keep him for another year. But at this stage of his career and his age, it’s down to what he wants.

"Whether he wants to still compete at the very top or start putting his slippers on. You don’t know. I think it will be down to what he wants to do. I think if he remains fit like this, Liverpool will at least try to keep him for another year. It’s a tough one because you just don’t know who will settle in and who can kick on.

"Just for the obvious part, the buy-back, it would be sensible to go down that route, with Quansah. Any of the other names like van de Ven, Murillo, it’s all a risk, you might as well try to take a cheaper risk, shall we say, on someone who’s already been at the club.

"So yeah, if you had to get someone, I’d probably pick him out of that list. But as I said, I do expect van Dijk to stay for another year.”