Alpha Clauses

Jarell Quansah, Marc Guéhi and, er, Real Madrid.

So I’ve been in Naples for the past few days, and a lot has happened. Milos Kerkez is about to be confirmed as Liverpool’s newest arrival — he’ll get his own dedicated piece next week — and Jarell Quansah has agreed to join Bayer Leverkusen, with potential replacements already being linked to Anfield.

I’m spoilt for choice regarding what to write about. But this feels like a good time to follow up on Quansah after sharing my thoughts on him in May. You can read that piece here.

I agree with his sale. And I’m intrigued by what happens next.

---

So the piece I produced on Quansah about two months ago was called The Bozo Gene. And I’ll admit, I sat on that title for a while. I questioned whether it was too harsh, but decided to stick to my guns in the end.

It wasn’t a hit piece, no. I would never. But it was a bit more critical than usual. Quansah isn’t bad, but those who have followed my Substack for a while now will know my stance on what it should take to play for Liverpool.

We’re talking about the best of the best of the best. The Reds sit at the top of the footballing food chain. They are the champions of England. They should be considered among the favourites to win the Champions League every single season.

Quansah started well in red. He seemed relatively assured given his age, stood about the same height as Ibrahima Konaté, and even publicly announced his desire to oust Joël Matip as a starter at one point, after the Cameroonian got injured.

But despite picking up a Premier League medal, the Liverpool academy graduate experienced a bad campaign this season. I’ve been labelled as unfair for using that term. But my response to those people is they are too nice, much nicer than me.

I tend to find myself having far more patience with players who get deployed closer to goal. The further back on the pitch you go, the less sympathetic I usually become. If your goalkeeper or centre-back makes a mistake, you’re toast.

---

Quansah has size on his side, but doesn’t always play like it. Indeed, he started the first Premier League bout of Arne Slot’s tenure against Ipswich Town, but got subbed after 45 minutes for not handling Liam Delap well enough.

And he’s contested 84 aerial duels in England’s top flight since his debut, winning 52 of them. His success rate stands at 61.9 per cent, which is alright but also ranks nowhere near Konaté’s average of 71.5 per cent across his last seven seasons in the Premier League and Bundesliga. That’s the level.

On top of that, Quansah has grown increasingly prone to making costly errors as he’s gained experience — read The Bozo Gene — and doesn’t quite offer enough of danger on the ball to compensate for his apparent flaws. No major set-piece threat, either. Not fast.

Liverpool getting in the region of £30m-£40m for his signature is great business, but what I’m most pleased about is Richard Hughes inserting a buy-back clause into the deal with Leverkusen. That’s heavyweight behaviour.

Real Madrid do this every summer. The ultimate alpha club, you could argue. Florentino Pérez doesn’t mess about. You’re either good enough to win the Super Bowl, or you’re not.

Madrid produce tons of talented starlets, but they sell most of them. Martin Ødegaard, Achraf Hakimi, Alvaro Morata, Marcos Llorente, Álvaro Odriozola. And in plenty of cases, they insert buy-back clauses.

In other words, he’s not good enough for us yet, so we’re happy to sell him and run him through the books as pure profit. But if he ever manages to fulfil his potential, he’s ours again. Thanks for cutting that diamond for us.

Morata is a good example. Dani Carvajal, another. Sergio Reguilón, another. Nico Paz, who is doing well representing Como of late, could return to the Spanish capital this summer. Remember Miguel Gutiérrez from my left-back series? Well, Madrid have the power to bring him back from Girona for as little as £8m.

Liverpool should — and probably will under Hughes — sanction deals like this more often. Sure, the player has technically been sold. But there’s still a degree of ownership there. The Reds are guarding against the prospect of Quansah becoming a worldie under *checks notes* Erik ten Hag.

Leverkusen won the Bundesliga without losing a single one of their 34 games just 12 months ago. A top club. And yet, they’re agreeing to buy a player from Liverpool with the awareness that if he ever proves to be good enough, he’ll end up back on Merseyside.

We’re the reigning champions. We’re at the top of tree. Our squad is excellent. You’ll do business on our terms. This is what a position of strength looks like in practice.

---

But Quansah being sold opens up another need for Hughes to address, with Nat Phillips also departing from the same department. Liverpool need a centre-back this summer.

Dean Huijsen was the first player on the shortlist before his move to *sigh* Madrid, with Marc Guéhi the latest defender to be linked. Those two players have something in common.

Huijsen is very two-footed and for that reason, he can play as a centre-back on the left or the right of a two-man partnership. Guéhi isn’t quite as two-footed, but despite favouring his right boot, he’s primarily been deployed on the left for Crystal Palace.

A shared quality between Huijsen and Guéhi is their ability to cover Konaté and Virgil van Dijk. I like left-footed Nico Schlotterbeck, for example, but if Liverpool bought him, he’d only really cover the latter without offering much of an option if the former got injured, which happens fairly often.

I don’t want to go too deep on Guéhi just yet — because he’ll deserve his own post if the Reds do indeed sign him in the coming weeks — but I’m happy with the link. Not ecstatic. But yeah, pretty happy. It’s sensible.

He’s Palace’s captain, for a start. Never misses games, either. Good on the ball, and has already played a million Premier League matches despite being just two years older than Quansah, who people often paint as a teenager.

Guéhi didn’t look out of place when surrounded by better teammates playing for England at Euro 2024, he’s homegrown — which is growing in importance given the players Liverpool are selling of late — and he’s only got a year left on his contract at Selhurst Park.

I’m not keen on his height, and he’s technically worse in the air than Quansah — which is perhaps his biggest red flag — based strictly on the numbers, but there just isn’t a ton of alternatives out there and England probably isn’t as aerial nowadays as it was five years ago.

Guéhi has a solid resume. A very reliable and secure Premier League centre-back who posts seven out of ten across the board. No outstanding qualities to harness, but absolutely fine. Think Joe Gomez, but four years younger, less injured and a bit slower.

The price is the big sticking point. Guéhi doesn’t really move the needle for you, and his contract expires in 2026, so anything north of £50m for him would be outrageous. Newcastle United going to £70m last year was insane. Liverpool are interested because he should be reasonably cheap.

---

This whole thing feels very hierarchical to me. Liverpool have got a decent centre-back who isn’t consistent enough to deliver titles. A club willing to put up with his defects offers to sign him for £30m on the condition that a future return to Anfield is very much on the cards.

And Liverpool go and replace that player by signing the guy who lifted the FA Cup just a few months ago. Oliver Glasner’s skipper. An England international, and one who hasn’t yet experienced his peak given he’s still just 24 years old. Oh, and he probably won’t even start.

Liverpool are predators again. Everybody else is prey.