Goals and assists from right-back: Why Liverpool signed Frimpong

At the end of the 2023-24 season, moments after Bayer Leverkusen had clinched the Bundesliga title for the first time in the club’s 120-year history, Jeremie Frimpong wanted to hide.

The Netherlands international — one of the faces of Leverkusen’s historic unbeaten league campaign (P34, W28, D6, L0) — was trying to escape the attentions of manager Xabi Alonso and teammate Edmond Tapsoba, who had made him their target for a traditional German “beer shower” during the celebrations. Frimpong had decamped to the tunnel at the BayArena, where he tried to seek solace with ESPN’s Bundesliga reporter, Archie Rhind-Tutt.

“Sorry about the smell, it’s the beer,” the wing-back grinned as the TV cameras started rolling. The subsequent four-minute interview went viral, with Frimpong’s exuberant persona earning him plenty of admirers in Germany and beyond. “He’s always been a larger-than-life character whenever I’ve spoken to him,” Rhind-Tutt tells ESPN. “He’s just one of those people where you hold the mic there as much as possible and then you just let them talk.”

From next season, Frimpong will be doing his talking on the pitch at Anfield, after Liverpool activated the €35 million release clause in his Leverkusen contract. The 24-year-old has signed a five-year deal with the Premier League champions, becoming Arne Slot’s first signing of the summer, and he has some big boots to fill as he will step into the right-back position previously occupied by local hero Trent Alexander-Arnold.

“His pace is blistering”

Liverpool were forced to plug the void left by Alexander-Arnold, who is expected to join Real Madrid on a free transfer when his contract expires. Since making his first-team debut in 2016, the 26-year-old has redefined what it means to be a right-back at the elite level, making more than 350 appearances for Liverpool and winning eight major honors.

Fellow academy product Conor Bradley has impressed as Alexander-Arnold’s deputy over the past two seasons, and Liverpool reaffirmed their commitment to the 21-year-old by handing him a new four-year contract last week, but with such little experience of playing at the highest level, he needed help. It is expected that Frimpong and Bradley will compete for a place in Slot’s XI next season, though neither is a like-for-like replacement for Alexander-Arnold.

“In possession, Frimpong might lack Alexander-Arnold’s composure on the ball, or the vision to play line-breaking passes through the middle, but he compensates with early deliveries into space and an ability to find teammates drifting into wide channels with short passes,” says former scout Tor-Kristian Karlsen.

“At Liverpool, Frimpong’s instinct to launch attacks at the earliest opportunity should align well with Slot’s preference for rapid transitions. Thus, his arrival could mark a slight shift towards an even more direct, high-tempo style on the right flank — rather than deliberate, drawn-out build-up play.”

Still, Frimpong ticks a lot of boxes for Liverpool, with his age, pedigree and relatively low transfer fee making him an irresistible market opportunity. His status as a “homegrown” player under UEFA regulations — having been at Manchester City’s academy from the age of nine — also made him an attractive proposition.

In fact, Liverpool’s interest in Frimpong dates back more than a decade, with the Reds having been among his many suitors at academy level. In the end, City’s training base was closer and that proved a compelling factor in his decision; the wing-back spent close to a decade at the club before joining Celtic for £300,000 in September 2019.

The aged 18, he went on to make 51 appearances for the Scottish side, winning the treble in 2019-20 and earning himself a €4 million move to Leverkusen in January 2021. But it was only during his time in Germany that Frimpong’s star really started to rise.

“He’s got a lot to his game going forward,” Rhind-Tutt tells ESPN. “He’s capable of a trick; so confident in fact that during one game this season, he did one trick which I asked him about, and he said: ‘Oh, I was just copying what Ryan [Gravenberch] did [for Liverpool] yesterday!’

“His pace is blistering. It’s a weapon going forward and going backwards, as well in terms of recovering the ball. He’s had accusations levelled at him before that he’s not good enough defensively, but when he’s winning the ball back for his team, he’s very passionate. He’s been playing in a very attacking team and so he’s naturally been attacking a lot. He’s also discovered a knack of being in the right place at the right time in the box.”

Indeed, it is Frimpong’s productivity going forward that has put him on the radar of many of Europe’s top clubs, with the defender having registered an impressive 30 goals and 44 assists across his 190 appearances for Leverkusen.

Operating from the right-flank, Frimpong has primarily been deployed in front of Alonso’s preferred three-man defense and has been close to an ever-present in the starting XI since the former Liverpool midfielder took charge at the club in October 2022.

“Since I got here for the first time, since the first day, Jeremie has been a key player for us and for myself,” Alonso said before last season’s Europa League final, which Leverkusen ultimately lost 3-0 to Atalanta — their only defeat of the season in any competition. “He’s a great guy. He brings a lot of joy to the locker room. So you need to keep him having this joy. But he has also become more mature.”

While Frimpong’s game had developed enormously under Alonso, there are still clear areas for improvement. But, with Slot having already helped transform the fortunes of international teammates Gravenberch and Cody Gakpo, the Liverpool boss will back himself to further advance Frimpong’s skillset.

Expert view

ESPN’s resident scout Tor-Kristian Karlsen examines what makes Frimpong tick.

Frimpong’s move signals a potentially interesting tactical pivot from Slot. In contrast to Alexander-Arnold’s more restrained, possession-oriented style, the Dutch manager has now picked an out-and-out flying-machine down the right flank.

At Leverkusen, Frimpong thrived as a right wing-back in Alonso’s fluid 3-4-3 system — a setup that maximizes the impact of attacking full-backs and removes part of their defensive responsibilities — and his numbers speak for themselves. In addition to his pace, Frimpong is an elite dribbler and maintains his composure and precision even at full speed.

Averaging 4.6 touches in the opposition box per 90 minutes, with a natural urge to run in behind opposing full-backs, he often functions more like an auxiliary wide forward than a conventional wing-back (as his heatmap above shows), arriving at the right moment for a near-post finish or cutback.

Frimpong is also dangerous through the middle when making “underlapping” runs into central areas and he has shown the capability to drift inside when the winger stays wide. This is a particularly useful tool against compact defenses.

While Frimpong’s offensive output is well-documented, the tactical challenge lies in how his irrepressible attacking instinct will be balanced defensively. At Leverkusen, his high positioning was mitigated by a three-man backline that allowed the right-sided centre-back to shift wide and cover him.

At Liverpool, with Slot expected to keep playing a back four, something may need to change. Either a pivot midfielder will occasionally drop into the backline, or the left-back will tuck in from the opposite flank, or one of the centre-backs will shift across. Alternatively, Slot may simply rely on Frimpong’s elite recovery speed and positional awareness to neutralise the risk.

No stranger to overcoming doubts

While Alexander-Arnold’s playmaking abilities from right-back are unparalleled, there is no doubt Frimpong has the potential to be a potent new weapon in Liverpool’s arsenal, and some of his numbers compare favorably with those of his predecessor.

In terms of accuracy of passing, Frimpong (84%) actually outstrips Alexander-Arnold (77.9%). Frimpong also has a better tackle success rate (54.3%, compared to 39.7%) than the England international this term, while making a similar amount of passes in the final third of the pitch (368, compared to 370).

Alexander-Arnold’s superiority as a creator is reflected in the fact he has made 45 key passes this season, creating 14 big chances, while Frimpong made just 25 key passes and created six big chances.

With Alexander-Arnold’s incisive passing likely to be a huge miss, Liverpool may have to look elsewhere in the team for a new creative fulcrum. But Frimpong already has a track record of defying expectations, having overcome initial doubts from Netherlands boss Ronald Koeman to establish himself as a valued member of the national team.

Reflecting on Frimpong’s abilities in an interview with ESPN’s Goodmorning Eredivisie show last week, Koeman said: “In the beginning, I had some doubts about him in a four-man defense, especially defensively. But in the final phase against Spain [in March’s UEFA Nations League quarterfinals] he came to play as right-back, and he did that very well at that moment.

“You want every player to play football based on his quality. It is clear that Liverpool plays attacking, also with full-backs. Alexander-Arnold is also very attacking, but he plays more often on the inside. Jeremie should pick that up, because at Leverkusen he plays in a five-man defense. Because then he doesn’t have to defend, he can put pressure on the opponents’ full-back and he can play right winger in possession of the ball.”

With Liverpool’s star man Mohamed Salah likely to miss a chunk of next season’s action due to the Africa Cup of Nations, which kicks off on Dec. 21, Frimpong could even be given the opportunity to play in a more advanced role for an extended spell, with his tactical versatility another of the features that makes him such a valuable addition.

A perfect fit?

While it could take some time for Frimpong to adjust to Slot’s demands and get up to speed with the rigors of the Premier League, Liverpool’s sizable Dutch contingent should, at least, make it easier for the 24-year-old to bed in on Merseyside. In addition to Slot himself, there’s Gakpo, Gravenberch and club-captain Virgil van Dijk who hail from the Netherlands and will be on hand to make Frimpong’s transition more seamless — though history dictates Liverpool’s newest recruit won’t have any problems integrating with Slot’s squad.

“He’s always had this, I’d call it a playground aura to him,” Rhind-Tutt says. “I mean that in terms of when he’s telling you about stuff, it’s as if he’s just kind of leaning up against the wall being like: ‘You heard what’s happened? I’ve got the gossip.’ He’s a nice guy as well. When you speak to more players in the dressing room, they’re like: ‘Oh yeah, he’s my best mate.’ I’m like, ‘how many best mates does he have?'”

Indeed, anyone seeking a snapshot of Frimpong’s character need only look as far as a clip shared by the Netherlands national team on social media in March. The video shows the defender greeting close friend and new Liverpool teammate Gravenberch with the Scouse phrase “Alright, la?”

Having already got the local dialect down — and, of course, having shown himself to be one of the Bundesliga’s most exciting talents — Frimpong and Liverpool could just prove to be the perfect fit.