Liverpool have completed the £60m signing of Jeremy Jacquet from Rennes.
The 20-year-old passed his medical with the champions on Deadline Day in February.
Liverpool have paid a fixed fee of £55m plus a potential £5m in performance-related add-ons.
Jacquet told Liverpoolfc.com: “I feel really good, the first impressions are good and I am very happy to start here.
“I am very happy. When I see the facilities, I can see myself there. I feel good here and I am very excited to get started.
“For me it’s a big dream, it’s a big club. A club like Liverpool, it’s a big dream for me.”
Chelsea offered exactly the same deal as Liverpool, but the player decided to move to Anfield, where he has signed a five-year contract with the option of a further year.
Although Jacquet suffered a shoulder injury earlier this year, he has successfully completed a programme of rehabilitation and is back doing individual fitness work, so is expected to be available for the start of pre-season training.
He will take his place in Liverpool’s first-team squad as one of their centre-backs alongside Virgil van Dijk, Geovanni Leoni and Joe Gomez.
Jacquet was wanted by a number of clubs across Europe, so the acquisition dovetails with Liverpool’s strategy of identifying and recruiting emerging elite talent, with the average age of their first-team signings over the last two transfer windows lower than 22.
Laurens: Jacquet is the real deal
French football expert Julien Laurens:
“He’s the real deal. I know he’s only 20, he hasn’t played for France and he hasn’t played in the Champions League or Europa League.
“He has a long way to go but he’s been impressive last season, after they [Rennes] called him back from his loan in the second division, and this season, with Habib Beye.
“You can’t get it wrong. He is going to be amazing.
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Jamie Carragher previously welcomed the comparison between Liverpool’s new signing Jeremy Jacquet and William Saliba, but stressed further defensive reinforcements are still needed
“He reminds me of when William Saliba burst onto the scene in France with Saint-Etienne, or Wesley Fofana.
“It’s about how much you value that potential and talent. You would pay a lot of money for someone who hasn’t really proved much. It’s a lot of money for such a young player.”
Hatchard: Jacquet a rising star – but untested in top-level football
European football expert Kevin Hatchard on Sky Sports News discussing Jeremy Jacquet:
“He’s been seen as a rising star for quite some time. He’s been a captain at numerous youth groups for France and seen as somebody who has all of the building blocks you need to be a modern centre-back.
“He’s good on the ball, good passing range, athletic, great in the air – but he doesn’t have a long record of top-level football.
“He had a loan at Clermont that went well. He’s been playing for Rennes this season, but it shows you just how much they rate him that they really didn’t want to let him go in this window.
“His coach Habib Beye said ‘if we let him go this season, we’ll have to downgrade our goals for the season’.”
