LIVERPOOL head coach Arne Slot has no doubts about Warrington-born Jarell Quansah’s ability to fill in for the injured Trent Alexander-Arnold in the Carabao Cup Final.
His view stems from having seen how hard the 22-year-old former Woolston Rovers junior has worked to recover from an early-season setback.
Alexander-Arnold is facing an extended spell on the sidelines – Slot said he would be back before the end of the season – with an ankle injury sustained in their Champions League exit to Paris St Germain on Tuesday.
It leaves Slot without a recognised right-back as Conor Bradley and Joe Gomez are still recovering from injuries of their own.
That means Quansah, who has made 21 appearances across the backline in all competitions this season, will most likely be asked to fill in, having lost his place as starting centre-back at half-time of the season opener at Ipswich.
That bold move by Slot, and the assessment the player had “lost too many duels”, could have had a negative impact on the youngster but he has bounced back strongly to the extent he has earned a place in Thomas Tuchel’s first England squad named today.
And his boss has been encouraged by that, having accepted his comments may have contributed to the scrutiny on Quansah.
“If being substituted at half-time is a setback then almost every player has more than a few setbacks during his career,” he said.
“It was more that people were a bit like ‘Oooh’ about what I said after the game in that they were not used to a manager being so clear about what I saw and what I did.
“In the end that probably went to a situation where he got criticised more than was normal for a player who was taken off at half-time.
“Mentality-wise it might have been a big moment for him because now he has experienced that people were not only positive about him like last season.
“He also knows now he can fight his way back if people are all of a sudden not positive any more.
“He did really well the last few times he had to play for us, even in a position he is not completely used to at right full-back but he has the qualities to play in that position.
“He is strong, fast, very comfortable with the ball and it gives us an extra quality in terms of set-pieces because he was the one who was this far [measuring inches with his fingers] off us qualifying for the next round by heading the ball against the post [in the second leg against PSG].”
