Jarell Quansah has publicly addressed the ruthless decision by Arne Slot to withdraw him at half-time in Liverpool’s opening match of the Premier League season.
The 21-year-old was hooked at the interval when the Reds beat Ipswich 2-0 last month and has since lost his starting berth to Ibrahima Konate, a bold call which has been vindicated by the team keeping a clean sheet in all three matches so far this term.
The LFC academy graduate accepted that the substitution at Portman Road gave him a ‘kick up the backside’ and, with a great deal of maturity, acknowledged that he simply needs to keep working behind the scenes and be ready for when he’s called upon again by the Dutchman.
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Quansah said (via Evening Standard): “It’s a long season; I have the whole season to prove myself. It’s given me a kick up the backside, you could say. I’ll keep grafting on the training pitch and that’s all it is.
“It’s never a nice feeling as a footballer to be subbed off at half-time but at the end of the day it was the gaffer’s decision and it was the right one. It obviously worked because we won, so I can only focus on myself, improve myself, kick forward and move on to the next game. I’m staying ready for whenever it comes.”
It was a bold move by Slot to take off Quansah at half-time against Ipswich, with such affirmative action carrying the risk of destroying the youngster’s confidence and backfiring if Liverpool hadn’t gone on to win.
However, the head coach’s proactivity was rewarded as Konate has played a key role in securing three consecutive victories without conceding a goal, and it’s evident from the 21-year-old’s response to being hooked at Portman Road that he’s taken the setback in his stride.
It’s easy to forget that it was just over a year ago that the Warrington native made his LFC first-team debut in a dramatic win at Newcastle, and a fantastic breakthrough campaign at Anfield led to him being named in the provisional England squad for Euro 2024.
Quansah didn’t make the final cut for the tournament and has yet to win a senior Three Lions cap, but he was impressive for the under-21s over the weekend and is sensible enough to know that his chance for Liverpool will come again.
As the Reds enter the first hectic period of the season with seven games in 22 days starting from next Saturday, the defender will almost certainly be called upon at some stage as the fixtures begin to come thick and fast.
Also, in a squad where centre-back depth isn’t massive, the 21-year-old will surely be needed if the likes of Konate or Virgil van Dijk were to, heaven forbid, succumb to injury.
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