‘Absolutely outstanding’… Jurgen Klopp says 20-year-old Liverpool youngster has really impressed him

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Liverpool have reason to be proud of their academy and the players graduating from it right now.

Obviously, Trent Alexander-Arnold remains the poster boy for coming through at Liverpool these days. The 25-year-old is a genius of a footballer and the current vice-captain to boot.

But Trent now has a sidekick in the first-team, too. Curtis Jones has been making plenty of waves since his own breakthrough, but has really kicked on this season.

And now, the two Scousers have a third graduate joining them as regular with the seniors, Jarell Quansah. Asked in his pre-Bournemouth press conference today just how happy he is with Quansah’s progress since the start of the season, Jurgen Klopp could hardly have been more emphatic.

“Jarell played an absolutely outstanding pre-season,” raved the Liverpool manager. “He’s one of these players where people knew that he’s a real talent but he only showed his real face in the moment he became close to the first-team. Since then he played only good games. In pre-season each game was good, when he came on at Newcastle he was outstanding in a really difficult game. And from that moment it’s just really good.

“I think what helps the most is the rise of Trent, Curtis, now Jarell, that’s what drives young players. To see it’s possible to get into one of the top teams in the Premier League or maybe the world. It’s good, we are really happy about that but obviously we needed it as well, that’s clear.”

Klopp hails Quansah development

It’s impossible to argue that Quansah has had a poor game this season. Almost unbelievably, the 20-year-old has been near perfect in each of his 15 appearances so far.

Whether starting or from the bench, Jarell has added a sureness to Liverpool’s back-line in every game.

The one major blot on his copybook was a penalty concession during last month’s trip to Selhurst Park. But even then, the decision to award a spot-kick to Crystal Palace was a little harsh on Quansah.

Aside from that, no Liverpool supporter will have had any grumbles at all about the youngster. For now at least, he looks like being a long-term option in the first-team.

Given the links to centre-backs for the Reds in the transfer market recently, Quansah’s development is really worthy of note.

One of the players now being mentioned as a possible new addition is Sporting defender Ousamane Diomande. Like Quansah, Diomande is just 20. In fact, the Ivorian is almost a year younger than the Liverpool man, having been born in December 2003. Quansah will turn 21 later this month.

Though younger and already a fair bit more experienced, Diomande is already seeing suggestions that he could be a £100m player. Given Quansah is operating at a higher level in terms of league and team, what does that make his value then?

Sometimes we can overlook the quality of those coming through in order to bring in shiny new players. Thankfully, Klopp isn’t one for doing that. With Jarell, it looks like paying off handsomely. He’ll surely go through a rough patch at some stage, but he hasn’t yet and that’s so very encouraging.