Liverpool suffer fresh summer setback set to cost club tens of millions: report

Liverpool’s preparations for the 2026-27 campaign have been dealt a costly blow after it was confirmed that January signing Jérémy Jacquet will miss the remainder of the season and require shoulder surgery. The 19-year-old French defender, signed from Rennes and immediately loaned back to Ligue 1, had been pencilled in to return to Merseyside this summer and compete for a first-team place. Instead, Jacquet will spend the off-season in rehabilitation, leaving the club’s recruitment team to reassess a suddenly uncertain defensive landscape.

Jacquet’s setback follows the long-term knee injury suffered by fellow centre-back prospect Giovanni Leoni, who tore an anterior cruciate ligament on his Liverpool debut and is also expected to be unavailable for the start of next season. With both youngsters now facing concurrent recoveries, the club could be forced into the transfer market for an experienced central defender, a move that insiders estimate could cost “tens of millions” that Fenway Sports Group had hoped to allocate elsewhere.

Compounding the dilemma is the unresolved future of Ibrahima Konaté, whose contract situation continues to attract interest from Real Madrid. Konaté’s potential departure on a free transfer would strip the squad of its most seasoned option at the heart of defence, increasing the pressure on the recruitment department to secure a proven replacement rather than rely on two unproven players returning from injury.

Tuesday night’s 2-1 defeat at Wolves, Liverpool’s latest away setback, has only heightened the urgency. While Arne Slot’s side remain alive in the UEFA Champions League and FA Cup, their Premier League form has slipped and European qualification for next season is no longer guaranteed. The timing of Jacquet’s diagnosis, revealed on the eve of the Molineux loss, underscores how quickly off-field issues can derail on-field ambitions.

Club officials now face a strategic crossroads: accelerate plans for an established centre-back, potentially triggering a mid-market splash, or gamble on a rearguard anchored by youth and rehabilitation timelines. Either choice carries financial and sporting risk, but the growing consensus within the AXA Training Centre is that another summer of defensive instability is a price Liverpool cannot afford to pay.

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