Jarell Quansah is Liverpool’s ultimate pre-season success story. Who will be this summer’s breakout star?

The story of Jarell Quansah’s rise is worth revisiting.

On paper, it all reads simply enough. He progressed through the academy ranks at Liverpool, played half a season on loan in League One with Bristol Rovers and returned to his parent club as a Premier League-ready centre-back who would soon help win the title, move to Bayer Leverkusen of the German Bundesliga for £35million and then represent England at the 2026 World Cup.

Yet what makes Quansah’s case interesting is that it all happened for him much sooner than expected.

Yes, he was captain of the Liverpool Under-18s side who made it to the FA Youth Cup final in 2021, but rarely was he identified as a standout star among the academy kids. Some even privately questioned whether he’d ever represent Liverpool at senior level.

But it was the summer of 2023 that made all the difference.

Quansah went with Jurgen Klopp’s squad to a training camp in Germany and then joined the travelling party to Singapore, mainly to make up the numbers in training and for the two friendlies played on the trip. It quickly emerged that the then 20-year-old defender was versatile, dependable and tactically intelligent.

He didn’t speak much, but his football did the talking, and away to Newcastle United in the third game of the 2023-24 season, with Ibrahima Konate out injured and captain Virgil van Dijk sent off after 28 minutes, Klopp turned to Quansah with Liverpool 1-0 down with 13 minutes of the 90 remaining. They ended up winning 2-1, thanks to two goals from Darwin Nunez.

From there, a breakout star emerged.

Now with 124 senior appearances, including three at the recent World Cup, to his name and a key figure in Leverkusen’s back line, Quansah is a homegrown talent who many youngsters at Liverpool look up to and hope to emulate.

Of course, for every Quansah, there are a thousand near-misses. For some academy players, playing in front of big crowds on a long-haul summer tour will be as good as it ever gets. Yet for the next wave of graduates at Anfield, Quansah’s story is a reminder that one decent summer is enough to kickstart a career.

The early indications are that midfielder Trey Nyoni, 19, is the big winner from the club’s 2026 pre-season, not that his development will come as a great surprise given Liverpool, after a tribunal, paid an initial transfer fee of just under £1m to sign him from Leicester City as a 16-year-old.

Liverpool turned down multiple loan requests for Nyoni in the winter window at the start of this year but then hardly used him (eight substitute appearances, the earliest in the 82nd minute) and the expectation was that he would seek first-team opportunities elsewhere this summer.

However, after impressing new head coach Andoni Iraola, who has already made it clear that he wants him to stick around, Nyoni may be on the verge of a bigger role, which is refreshing to see.

Another player who had started to follow a similar path to Quansah — at least in terms of impressing during a summer pre-season trip — is Ifeanyi Ndukwe, the 18-year-old centre-back.

Signed in January for an initial £2.6m after impressing as Austria got to the final of the Under-17 World Cup in the November, Ndukwe stayed with Austria Vienna for the rest of their season, then joined up with his new team-mates this summer having turned 18 in March.

The initial plan was to monitor his development until the Christmas period and then consider a loan in the winter window. But that had to be scrapped when he failed to qualify for a UK work permit, and therefore requires a loan in this window to ensure he gets a visa in the 2027 pre-season.

Liverpool were aware for a while that Ndukwe would be unable to feature for them in competitive matches this season because of the points-based system around permits, but that doesn’t make it any easier, considering how well he has settled in, both on and off the pitch.

There’s an understandable degree of frustration at not being able to use a player who has made a significant impact in both training and the warm-up friendlies.

Born in Vienna to a Russian mother and Nigerian father, Ndukwe learned English at school from an early age and that has helped since moving to Merseyside. On Sunday against Monaco before a near-capacity crowd at Anfield, which included for the first time his family and girlfriend, he again looked composed. Van Dijk was even asked for his thoughts on Sunday and described him as a “big talent”, while those who know him well have been surprised by just how smooth his transition has been.

Had Nduwke been available to Iraola, there’s a chance he could have bolstered the defensive numbers, alongside Jeremy Jacquet, Giovanni Leoni, Joe Gomez and new loan arrival Ronald Araujo over the course of the season.

Instead, Liverpool will have to monitor his development from further afield in the hope that his loan, wherever he ends up going, is a success. There’s no shortage of interest, with clubs across Europe all keen to offer him a platform, and it’s expected a decision on his destination will be made after Sunday’s final friendly with Como.

Others, meanwhile, have made an impact but are either not at the stage in their development to be considered for the first team, or still short of experience gained elsewhere to show they’re good enough to feature.

Kieran Morrison’s performances on the American tour have increased interest in him from abroad, including several Dutch clubs. James McConnell was loaned to Ajax last summer but is expected to remain in the UK this time, with teams in the Championship in the mix and Leicester City (now in League One after successive relegations) also keen.

Left-back Calum Scanlon has interest from Cardiff City again, after helping them win promotion to the Championship having joined on loan for the second half of last season, as well as Sheffield Wednesday of League One, while Calvin Ramsay has options in the Scottish Premiership to consider.

All of these players have featured across pre-season, but Iraola will now begin to narrow down his first-team group by deciding which few of them will stick around. Stefan Bajcetic and Jayden Danns are likely to feature for the under-21s to build up fitness, alongside younger prospects Josh Sonni-Lambie, Josh Abe and Mor Talla Ndiaye while Owen Beck is set to stay after a setback in his recovery from injury.

These summer fixtures always offer new hope for a batch of up-and-coming players at Liverpool, but the experience of representing one of the biggest clubs in the world may never happen again for some of those we’ve seen in recent times.

Luca Stephenson, a talented right-back who will play Championship football with Bolton Wanderers this season after an early July transfer, fell into that category last summer, and unless his career is super-charged in the years ahead, the now 22-year-old will look back at playing at a packed Anfield during pre-season as an early highlight.

For others, though, this summer could prove to be the making of them.

If it’s not Nyoni or Ndukwe, then perhaps there’s a small chance for one of Lewis Koumas or Luke Chambers, both of whom will be kept around until later in August as cover while others return from post-World Cup breaks and conversations around incomings continue.

It would take a lot for that to happen, of course, but injuries, failed moves or a leap of faith from the head coach can never be ruled out.

Quansah needed two of those to spark his breakthrough. They were enough to set him on his way.