Jarell Quansah earned his new contract and that's just the beginning

The arrival of Arne Slot to replace Jurgen Klopp has seen the reemergence of Ibrahima Konate in the Starting Xi as he has looked back to his best.

As a result, the young Jarell Quansah has been relegated to substitute duty and an occasional spot start. It's a far cry from the breakout season that 2023-24 was for him where Klopp gave him numerous opportunities.

Despite all of that, Liverpool still deemed it proper business to give a new and improved long-term deal for the young English defender.

Based on what we have seen from him to this point with the first team, he is more than ready to repay the faith being shown in him by the club.

He's the future of the Liverpool defense

Quansah, 21, still has a long and fruitful career at the highest level ahead of him. That he is back behind a top class player like Konate is not a slight on him at all.

He played great during the preseason and it was only a shaky first half against Ipswich on opening day that seemingly set him back.

However, Virgil van Dijk, while still playing at an extremely high level, will not be at this peak forever. Be it in 2-3 years, he will eventually see some kind of slight dip or an outright departure could be on the cards.

Were that to happen, a center defensive pairing of Quansah-Konate is a formidable one that Slot will be more than comfortable deploying on a weekly basis.

He is already so calm on the pitch and he reads the game better than a lot of defenders that are 5, 6, 7 years his senior. His size and physicality means he can hold up against some of the bruising forwards the Reds run into on a yearly basis.

He's well ahead of Joe Gomez in the pecking order and any defender that is brought in should only enhance him and aid in his development.

He's still improving and maturing

As you can gather from above, it's still hard to believe Quansah is as young as he is because he plays in such a way that belies his tender years in this game.

It was around this time last year that he was thrust into action for the 1st Team following van Dijk's red card against Newcastle and the rest is history as they say.

He's already been trusted in several marquee games for the club and he more than showed his worth on those occasions. This is what makes his future so tantalizing because if he is this calm and this good already, what will 3 more seasons of experience do for him? Hint, a LOT.

As he grows, he might get even stronger and a little faster as his peak body condition comes into more focus entering his mid-twenties in a few years.

His passing might be one of the best parts to his game already and it comes off as very van Dijk-like upon closer examination.

His positional and tactical awareness are already high but they will only get better as he sees more and more types of attacks and forwards.

Lastly, his temperament is one that suits the style that Slot wants to play, very calm and composed at all times. He has all the tools in his bag and his ceiling is very high. This new contract will ideally be the first of several big extensions he gets from Liverpool.

If that's the case, we will look back on this deal as wonderfully efficient business for one of the best young defenders in Europe. Keep going Jarell, lad, keep going.