Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk has praised Jarell Quansah for his perfect adaptation to the Premier League
Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk has praised Jarell Quansah’s perfect adaptation to the Premier League but challenged the young defender to “keep his standards high”.
After a summer of training with Liverpool’s first team in Germany and Singapore, 20-year-old Quansah made his Premier League debut in a 2-1 win against Newcastle United on 27 August.
The Warrington-born defender came into action at St James’ Park with just 13 minutes remaining as Jurgen Klopp looked to shuffle his pack, which had played without Van Dijk following his first-half red card, in the hope of turning the situation. . the game was reversed.
Introduced alongside Darwin Nunez, who scored a late brace on Tyneside, Quansah impressed during his cameo as Liverpool secured a stunning 2-1 win against the Magpies.
Since then, the 20-year-old played against Aston Villa on September 2 before making his Premier League debut in the 2-1 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers last week.
The England youth international, who has been on the Reds’ books since the age of five, has been given a starting place in the West Midlands, with Van Dijk serving a further one-match ban for his reaction to the sending-off at St James’ Park.
While Ibrahima Konate had completed just two sessions at the AXA Training Center after picking up a hamstring injury against Bournemouth.
In his program notes ahead of Sunday’s Premier League match against West Ham United, Van Dijk, who saw his team transform their fortunes in the Black Country with an inspired second-half performance, was full of praise for Quansah.
“One of the big positives from our win against Wolves last weekend was the performance of Jarell Quansah in central defence,” said Van Dijk, who is available for the Premier League side after serving a two-match suspension .
“It’s always great to see a young player emerge and we’re lucky that in Liverpool we have an Academy that provides us with quite a few players, whether it’s Trent, Curtis, Stefan, Doaky or any other lad. ” who have been in and around the team.
But for obvious reasons, I’ve been keeping an eye on Jarell and I can confidently say that he can be very proud of the way he’s been playing.
If there were nerves, he didn’t show them and approached things in a way that suggested he had a lot more experience than was actually the case.
After spending the second half of last season on loan at Bristol Rovers in League One, Van Dijk urged Quansah to prepare for other opportunities that arise at Anfield, but also challenged the 20-year-old to continue to play at your current level. after impressing in training.
“Having taken this crucial first step and showing that he can compete well at this level, the next challenge for Jarell is to make the most of this experience by keeping his standards high in training and making the most of it.“
The fact that he is considered good enough to start a Premier League game for Liverpool says everything about his abilities, so he will hopefully use that experience and continue to get stronger.
Quansah was an unused substitute in Liverpool’s Europa League opener against Lask on Thursday, although he could return to the starting line-up on Wednesday when Leicester City travel to Anfield in the League Cup.
