France and Arsenal legend Thierry Henry, who served as manager of the France national under-21 team and took notably took charge of the France Olympic team at the 2024 Summer Games has chimed in with his opinions on two of his former players: new Liverpool FC signings Jeremy Jacquet and Bradley Barcola.
On Jacquet:
“When I was the coach of the Under-21s I wanted to call him up, he was only 16 or 17, but he didn’t come because he had to take his exams.” ︀︀ ︀︀“As much as he concentrated on football,
he was also concentrating on getting his degrees. He’s very on-point in his head, and his family knows what he needs to do and how he can be successful.” ︀︀ ︀︀“People told me that he has always been seen as ‘the guy’, but it doesn’t always work that way. Many times I’ve seen players who were ‘the guy’ at that age turn out not to be the guy, while sometimes it does go the other way.” ︀︀ ︀︀“You can see that he already understands what he needs to do, especially in the physical part of the game. It also helps if you play alongside Virgil.” ︀︀ ︀︀“But am I surprised with him dealing with the level of expectation? No, not really, because he was always in that situation in the youth system in France.…”
On Barcola:
︀︀“People forget that the tactic, the team and how you play matters. You can see that everyone who comes into Luis Enrique’s system shines – Kvaratskhelia, Dembele, Doue, Barcola.”
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︀︀“He’s just arrived at Liverpool, he doesn’t speak English, and it’s a different style of play with a different intensity in the league. I had to deal with it the same way, and then that little switch happened and I was more comfortable.”
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︀︀“It’s not an easy place to start, and he didn’t ask for his price tag, but it’s on his back.”
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︀︀“We all know that one-v-one, he is deadly and he has pace. The only thing he needs to work on is his finishing, but that’s normal.”
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︀︀“There is going to be a level of expectation, and sometimes he is a bit raw in his finishing, but he creates a hell of a lot.”
The future is bright for Liverpool’s newest Frenchmen. Jacquet already looks right at home at LFC, and Barcola will keep improving as the chemistry of the Liverpool attack comes into shape.
