Liverpool defender Jarell Quansah is determined to keep exceeding expectations after leaving Jurgen Klopp ‘surprised’ with his impressive form so far this season. The former Bristol Rovers loanee has been handed a prominent role by the Reds manager in recent months and is certainly making the most of his opportunities to impress.
Quansah made his full Premier League debut in September and has since racked up nine appearances for Liverpool in all competitions. His impressive showings earned him a debut call-up to England’s under-21 squad last month, with Klopp later admitting that he was initially surprised at just how well the defender has taken to first-team football at Anfield.
“If you would have asked me in pre-season that he would have been that good I would have been surprised, but since then I have seen him every day and I am not surprised about it anymore because I know from the first day of pre-season how good a player he will be,” said Klopp earlier this month.
Quansah is fully aware that such an impressive step up is rather unusual at the highest level, which has made his rapid rise at Liverpool even more commendable. It seems likely that he will continue to go from strength to strength for as long as he retains the trust of his manager, who saw what he was capable of on the training ground before bringing him into the first-team picture.
Responding to Klopp’s public praise, Quansah told the Liverpool Echo: “You can look at that both ways, can’t you? ‘Surprised’ could be deemed as an interesting word, but I think the way he means it, I wasn’t really expected to be there yet. I don’t think it was a surprise of, I’ve trained with them before and I’m not a good player.
“I think it was how soon it came and how I’ve dealt with the adversity that I have been thrown into. I wouldn’t say it was a surprise as in if he thought I was going to be a good player or not, because I’ve shown that before in training sessions. It’s probably not expected from going from a loan at Bristol Rovers to straight into the first team and doing as well as I did. I think that’s where the surprise came from.”
Quansah went on to explain that his sights are firmly set on becoming one of the Premier League’s best defenders, with the 20-year-old refusing to be content until he is considered as such.
“You look at goals yourself, there is no point in setting goals that you think you could reach,” he added. “You might as well just set a goal that maybe looks out of reach, but you never know what you can get to. So no [this season hasn’t exceeded expectations], because no-one has said Jarell Quansah is one of the best players in the world yet.
“No-one’s said he’s a top centre-back, no-one’s said he’s all this, so until I’m regarded as at least one of the best players in the Premier League, then there is no reason for me to sit on what I’ve got and go: ‘Oh, yeah, I’ve played nine games for Liverpool’. That’s never been the end goal.”
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