Homegrown defender has completed a £35m move to Bayer Leverkusen
Liverpool defender Jarell Quansah has concluded a £35m move to Bayer Leverkusen that will help the Premier League champions balance their books ahead of future transfer windows.
The 22-year-old centre-back has signed a five-year contract at the BayArena. His move becomes the latest in a series of transactions between Liverpool and Leverkusen this summer, following the English side’s acquisitions of Florian Wirtz and Jeremie Frimpong.
The move works for Quansah because it will help him lock down a starting role. A product of Liverpool’s academy, the England U21 player has made 58 senior appearances so far for Liverpool, scoring three goals.
However, he is unable to secure a regular starting role at the club, with more established professionals in the form of Virgil van Dijk, Ibrahima Konate and Joe Gomez all options for Arne Slot at the moment. Marc Guehi could potentially still come to Anfield this summer. Last season, Quansah featured in only 13 out of 38 Premier League matches, 488 minutes in total.
On Liverpool’s part, however, there was a financial motivation to conclude the deal. The club value Quansah highly. They turned down an offer from Newcastle last summer. They have also negotiated a buyback clause with Leverkusen, and for a pre-agreed fee, which means few hitches if they want him back at Anfield in future.
But as an academy product, the player’s transfer fee will be recorded as pure profit on the books, which would help Liverpool maintain a healthy balance sheet in terms of the Premier League’s profit and sustainability rules. This is especially important after the club’s £200m outlay so far this summer, with more money likely to be spent later in the summer on Guehi and potentially a centre forward.
While the club do have a lot of wiggle room in the market after having spent only £10m in the last two transfer windows, selling Quansah now feels like a very good move to ensure further transfer freedom in coming windows.
Leverkusen’s sporting director, Simon Rolfes, was full of praise for Quansah.
“He has already made an impressive impact in a Liverpool defence dominated by world-class players,” said Rolfes.
“With Jarell, our defence gains significant dynamism, pace and toughness in tackling, and he’s another very important building block for the future.”
