Jeremy Jacquet: Chelsea’s new €65m signing has one problem no one is talking about

Robin Bairner

• 19 Jan 2026 12:20 GMT
• 5 min read

Analysis

Chelsea are close to completing their first transfer of the January window with the arrival of Jeremy Jacquet from Rennes – but he does not arrive in London without weakness.

It has the two key hallmarks of a Chelsea transfer. Firstly, Jacquet is a promising young player capable of making it to the very top of the game, and secondly, there’s a lot of money involved.

The Stamford Bridge side are ready to pay around €65 million to bring the centre-back across the Channel. That’s an extravagant sum of money for a player who has only one full year of top-level experience under his belt.

Current ETV

Jérémy Jacquet

D (CR)

Rennes

Jérémy Jacquet

D (CR)

Rennes

€17.8M

ETV Range

€16M - €19.6M

View full profile

FootballTransfers gives Jacquet an Estimated Transfer Value (ETV) of just €17.8m. This is reflective of his lack of track record at the very top of the game more than any lack of ability.

Chelsea fans hoping to catch a glimpse of their new player at the weekend when Rennes hosted Le Havre would have been left disappointed. The centre-back was banned from that match and hence left out of action.

Ultimately, though, it may have done the Blues a favour because Jacquet’s enormous transfer fee seems to have distracted fans from one very real issue surrounding this deal.

Jacquet’s injury worries

Jacquet has been playing all season with an adductor injury. It’s not been significant enough to stop him from playing every minute he’s been available in Ligue 1, but it was sufficient to limit his action in Rennes’ opening Coupe de France match shortly before Christmas while it has limited his training.

“Jeremy has had the same issue since the start of the season, and he's playing with it; we're relieving him of certain responsibilities. As long as their pain threshold isn't too high, we're managing them to keep him training, because if we cut that out, we'd be starting from too far back,” Rennes coach Habib Beye said at the beginning of December.

This niggle was used as an explanation as to why Jacquet made a disappointing start to the season, though it does not appear to be dogging him so significantly after the two-week winter break.

“He’s in great shape,” the coach said following this pause.

With a recent history of issues, Chelsea will have to be particularly thorough with their medical.

Casual passing? That’s just my personality – Jacquet

In terms of his technical capabilities, meanwhile, Jacquet has already picked out one area where improvement must be made: the mental aspect of his game.

“I see people saying I'm casual in my passing, but that's just my personality - when I have the ball, I tend to be quite relaxed. I have to raise my level of concentration for 90 minutes and in every duel,” he told Ouest France.

Beye, meanwhile, is impressed with the steps taken by the 20-year-old so far this season.

“He’s taken a leap forward. He’s been receptive and has understood what he needs to improve,” the Rennes boss explained.

“He’s got a lot of confidence. When we started working together, I warned him about overconfidence. He’s also become more aggressive, which is what I expect from him.

“Jeremy has understood that this position isn’t just about what you do with the ball, but also the need to be tough and impactful when the team is under pressure.”

Jacquet is a player on the up, but his learning curve at Chelsea will only get steeper.

Related stories:

TRANSFER RUMOURS: Chelsea willing to sell Enzo Fernandez as January deal close

Premier League January transfers 2026: All the Done Deals

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