Vitězslav Jaroš Player Profile: Liverpool FC
Being a Liverpool goalkeeper isn’t an easy task, so it is perhaps little surprise that not many of them have managed to break through the youth team in order to make it as first team players. In the case of Vitězslav Jaroš, his journey there has been made even tougher by the fact that the Reds seem to have both the best goalkeeper in the world as well as we one of the best reserve goalkeepers around.
In order to have any real chance of making it, he needs both Alisson Becker and Caoimhin Kelleher to somehow drop out of the pecking order, which isn’t all that likely to happen.
He earned a good reputation in the Under-18s before being promoted to the Under-23s, which earned him a promotion to the first-team squad for a friendly in 2019. A year later and he signed a new long-term contract, heading out on loan in the February of 2021 to gain some first-team experience.
More loans followed, then he signed a new contract in 2024 before earning his first appearance for Liverpool in a competitive match, albeit briefly, when he was called upon to replace Alisson for the final part of the Reds’ game against Crystal Palace in the Premier League at the start of October.
Who is Vitězslav Jaroš?
Born in Příbram in the Czech Republic on the 23rd of July 2001, Vitězslav Jaroš joined his local club, FK Příbram. He played there for three years as a youth prospect, doing enough to capture the attention of Slavia Prague.
They took him into their youth side in 2011, spending six years there and learning the ropes of being a goalkeeper. He remained there for six years before Liverpool came calling, with the Reds looking to strengthen their youth goalkeeping department. He was moved into the Under-18s and won some silverware almost immediately thanks to Liverpool’s victory over Manchester City in the FA Youth Cup.
That’s FA Youth Cup winner Vitzeslav Jaroš keeping a clean-sheet on his Liverpool debut pic.twitter.com/Z9j1nI2Imo
— Lewis Bower (@LewisBower2021) October 5, 2024
That was Liverpool first win in the competition since 2007, showing how much work had been done by the Academy in the intervening years. Jaroš helped the Reds win the trophy when the game went to penalties, with Cole Palmer, who would later move to Chelsea from City and become one of the Premier League’s top players, missing his penalty as Liverpool scored all five of theirs.
Although he missed it rather than Jaroš saving it, the Czech player had got in his head thanks to his excellent performance throughout the match itself.
He did well enough with the youth sides to mean that he was offered a chance with the senior team. In the summer of 2019, Jaroš was taken on the club’s pre-season tour and played in the second-half of a 6-0 win over Tranmere Rovers. Unfortunately, an injury in training not long after that halted his progress.
He took a knock to his elbow that ripped his ligament from the bone, as well as taking a bit of the bone off, meaning that he had to undergo surgery that resulted in him missing several months of action.
Getting Experience on Loan
Jaroš returned to action after recovering from his injury and was given a chance to work with the first-team when he was named on the bench for an FA Cup fourth round replay against Shrewsbury Town in the February of 2020. A few months later and he signed a new long-term contract, then in the following season he made it onto the bench for three Champions League fixtures, which were the home and away games against Ajax and the trip to play FC Midtjylland. Although he didn’t get off the bench for any of them, it at least provided him with some experience of Champions League nights.
@st.patsireland
On the third of February 2021, Liverpool confirmed that Jaroš had agreed a loan move to the League of Ireland Premier Division side St Patrick’s Athletic for the season. Interestingly, he was just the second player from the Czech Republic to sign for them after Michal Macek, who was also from Příbram. His senior competitive debut came in a 1-1 draw against Shamrock Rovers on the 19th of March 2021, earning him praise from the club’s manager. His first senior clean sheet came a couple of weeks later when St Pat’s won 1-0 at Bohemians.
In the 12th of November, Jaroš was named as the club’s Player of the Year, as voted for by the club’s supporters, helping them to a second-place finish. His final appearance came in the 2021 FAI Cup final, which they won on penalties. When he left, the manager, Stephen O’Donnell, said that he was the ‘best 20-year-old goalkeeper’ that he’d ever seen, which included Kasper Schmeichel. On the 27th of January 2022, Jaroš was sent on loan to Notts County in the National League for the rest of the season. His first clean sheet there came in a 2-0 win over Eastleigh, which was his fifth appearance for the club.
Still expecting a new face between the sticks to provide competition/support to Ben Hinchliffe, with Liverpool youngster Vit Jaros reportedly in the works.#StockportCounty fans may remember the 20-year-old Czech from the EP clash with Notts County in March.
@DanielPowell91 pic.twitter.com/48Ot57lu8B
— Sam Byrne (@_SByrne) July 4, 2022
Having made 15 appearances for Notts County, missing promotion to EFL League Two in the playoffs, he then joined Stockport County on loan at the start of July. When they were drawn to play Leicester City in the League Cup, Jaroš saved a penalty from James Maddison in a shootout that they lost 3-1. During that spell he made 13 appearances, heading back to Liverpool before being sent on another loan on the ninth of January 2024, this time to Austrian Bundesliga side Sturm Graz. That allowed him to play in Europe for the first time, winning 4-1 against Slovan Bratislava in the Europa Conference League.
He also won the Austrian Cup when the club won 4-1 against Rapid Wien in the final. That was one of 21 appearances that he made for Sturm Graz, finishing the season with a title win, ending Red Bull Salzburg’s 10-year long title winning streak in Austria, seeing him delight the club’s supporters and leave with his reputation enhanced as a result.
Liverpool Competitive Debut
Given his ability, it is perhaps not all that surprising that Jaroš has made numerous appearances for the Czech Republic at various age levels. His first call-up to the Under-21 side came in the September of 2021, with his first appearance coming in a 3-0 win against Andorra in March of the following year. Two years on from that and he was part of his country’s senior side for friendly games against Norway and Armenia.
He got his debut for his country when they won 7-1 in a friendly against Malta, replacing Matěj Kovář at half-time. Meanwhile, he wanted to leave Liverpool in order to get more playing time.
That was a request that Liverpool denied, with new Head Coach Arne Slot saying that at a club like Liverpool even the third-choice goalkeeper needs to be good. That proved to be an inspired decision when Caoimhin Kelleher missed the match through illness. As a result, Jaroš was promoted to the substitute’s bench, albeit it no doubt imagining that it was just a chance to gain some more experience of what happens on a match day.
When Alisson Becker went down with a suspected hamstring injury in the 79th minute, however, Jaroš had to pull on his gloves and make his way onto the pitch.
Vitezslav Jaros on his debut appearance pic.twitter.com/KWULqJ8MZQ
— Liverpool FC (@LFC) October 5, 2024
Palace tried to take advantage of Liverpool missing their first-choice goalkeeper, but Jaroš punched away a cross before making a crucial stop from Eberechi Eze. As the match wore on and the Eagles looked to capitalise on the third-choice ‘keeper being in goal, he came rushing out to smother an opportunity for Jean-Philippe Mateta.
With Alisson’s injury likely to mean that he would miss games against Arsenal, Chelsea and Bayern Leverkusen, Jaroš was to be given the backup goalkeeper’s role on a regular basis as Kelleher replace the Brazilian as Liverpool’s first choice shot-stopper.
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