Liverpool head coach Arne Slot has no doubts about Jarell Quansah’s ability to fill in for the injured Trent Alexander-Arnold in the Carabao Cup final having seen how hard the 22-year-old 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.
Jarell Quansah will get another chance to do battle with Newcastle on Sunday (Owen Humphreys/PA)
That means Quansah 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.
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.
Jarell Quansah had an opening day to forget at Ipswich (Bradley Collyer/PA)
“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] of us qualifying for the next round by heading the ball against the post [in the second leg against PSG].”
The blow of losing Alexander-Arnold, however, cannot be under-estimated.
Trent Alexander-Arnold faces a long lay-off (Martin Rickett/PA)
“Trent is not available. He will not be there at the final,” said Slot.
“He is still to be assessed for how long it will take but we do expect him back before the end of the season.”
Alexander-Arnold had already been left out of Tuchel’s squad announced on Friday morning.