Who will replace Manuel Akanji in the Swiss national team should he miss out? The answer could be Luca Jaquez, whom coach Murat Yakin has praised in advance.
08.10.2025, 05:00
08.10.2025, 06:57
SDA
Luca Jaquez is his usual calm and reserved self. At the press conference in St. Gallen, the Lucerne native gave answers that were as general as possible, which was either practiced in media training or simply suits his nature. Sebastian Hoeness, his coach at VfB Stuttgart, recently described Jaquez as a "very fine guy with a rather quiet nature", but who is completely different on the pitch. And that seems to be his credo: Jaquez, who has also experienced setbacks in his young career, is a quiet worker who doesn't necessarily need the publicity.
Mario Frick, his former coach at FC Luzern, has already compared Jaquez to Manuel Akanji. When asked whether his style of play is comparable to that of the Inter defender, Jaquez again replied diplomatically: "I can learn a lot from players like Manuel Akanji, but I don't compare myself to others. I stick to my game, to my personality."
The person of Luca Jaquez is particularly interesting in connection with Akanji. The Swiss national team have been asking themselves for some time who could be the defensive boss of the future. After all, Akanji turned 30 this year, which is not old in a footballing context, but no longer young either.
Three young hopefuls
A year ago, there were still big question marks surrounding the Swiss central defense. Following the retirement of Fabian Schär, Nico Elvedi, who had not received any minutes at the European Championship in Germany, returned to the starting line-up. However, his performances in the Nations League were below average and he was not even called up in the spring. Elvedi has since rehabilitated himself and recently even scored a goal against Slovenia. But he too is already 29 years old. And anyway: what if one of the two is out?
Yakin has tried out a few things: Eray Cömert, Cédric Zesiger, Stefan Gartenmann and Albian Hajdari played in central defense in the test matches in March. Hajdari has since changed his national team and now plays for Kosovo. The remaining players were obviously unable to convince Yakin. At any rate, none of them are in the current squad.
Instead, the coach is currently relying on a young trio: 22-year-old Aurèle Amenda has been part of the national team's extended squad for some time. Jaquez, also 22, and Adrian Bajrami, one year older, received their first call-up for the World Cup qualifiers in October. And when announcing the squad, the national coach stated with unusual clarity that Jaquez was "ahead of the rest of the trio".
Jaquez "not yet at the limit"
Jaquez is likely to have secured this pole position thanks to his standing in the Bundesliga. While Amenda has to fight for minutes at Eintracht Frankfurt, Jaquez was in the starting line-up at the start of the season and in Stuttgart's last four competitive matches. In between, he had to take a break due to a broken nose. Although Bajrami is also a regular for Luzern, he does not experience the same intensity in the Super League as the two Germany internationals.
When asked about Yakin's words, Jaquez is once again reserved. "Of course I have the ambition to get playing time. But I have to prove myself every day in training." A situation that Jaquez knows only too well. He was regarded as a top talent early on, but was unable to assert himself immediately and therefore had to be patient. "Looking back, I wouldn't change anything, even if everything didn't always go perfectly," says Jaquez. "As a result, I worked even harder on myself and am now where I am."
Whether Jaquez will one day become a regular in the national team or could even replace Akanji as defensive boss is still completely open. His club coach also said last week that although Jaquez is already a "really good reinforcement", they are still hoping for more from him. "I think he's still a long way from reaching his limit," said Hoeness. Jaquez's path so far definitely gives hope for the future.
