Analysed: Why Jeremie Frimpong has been chosen to replace Trent Alexander-Arnold | OneFootball

Jeremie Frimpong might soon fall into the Fabinho and Diogo Jota category of Liverpool signings. In the space of 24 hours, we’ve gone from there being interest in the right-back to, according to some reports in Germany, the deal being almost finalised.

David Ornstein mentioned interest in the Dutch international last week before Fabrizio Romano parrotted him not long after, adding that the wing-back’s release clause does not need to be paid in one lump sum.

If Liverpool are wanting a ball carrier rather than a progressive passer, I can see why Frimpong might now be near the top of their list. For a while, it wasn’t necessarily clear what Arne Slot would want his right-back to do in a post-Trent Alexander-Arnold world.

More of the same at right-back would see a passer come in.

The issue is there aren’t many players out there who suit that profile. The Reds need someone to make an immediate impact.

It appears as though Slot wants something different at full-back. His words in the build-up to the Arsenal game hinted at that anyway. Discussing Conor Bradley, he said: “Conor has such an intense playing style. They all run a lot but Conor is in his own league when it comes to running a lot, comparable maybe with Achraf Hakimi at PSG. He is everywhere during the game.”

Then you watch Bradley in the game against the Gunners and you can see the benefit of a runner/scrambler/ball carrier at right-back.

In the build-up to the second goal, he bursts forward from deep and creates space for Mohamed Salah by essentially pinning Miles Lewis Skelly at left-back.

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The full-back can’t get out to close Salah down because he’s tracking Bradley. It’s four-vs-four situation in attack, with Bradley and Curtis Jones joining Dominik Szoboszlai and Luis Diaz in the final third. You don’t get that with Alexander-Arnold at full-back. He stopped making those bursts forward on a regular basis years ago.

The more runners you have from deep, the more dangerous you are as a team.

If this is what Slot wants, Frimpong makes sense.

If we focus on what he can do rather than what he’s not doing, the link to the former Celtic man becomes more clear.

The 24-year-old has made more sprints (983) than any player in the Bundesliga this term and he ranks in the top 10 for top speed (36.34km/h). He covers some serious ground and, paired with Szoboszlai on the Liverpool right, he could do a lot of Salah’s running next season, allowing the No11 to be at his creative best.

If you look at those numbers, you can see how he’d work in this system. Especially if Slot wants his own Hakimi.

There’s more to it than that, of course.

Frimpong, despite being Dutch, counts as homegrown. So that is another box ticked. The release clause, given it can be paid across multiple seasons, makes him appealing too. Another box ticked.

The 12-cap international has racked up over 180 appearances with Bayer Leverkusen and has had success in Germany, as well as with Celtic during his stint in Scotland. He knows what is required to win and that cannot be underrated. Another box ticked.

If you look at some of his on-ball numbers, things look positive.

For example, this term, he’s averaged 4.19 progressive carries, 2.14 progressive passes (6.33 progressive actions), 0.88 successful take-ons and 2.67 shot-creating actions. So he’s a ball carrier who is progressive in his own way, rather than as a passer. It’s why he’s still got an Expected Assists average of of 0.2 per 90.

His numbers aren’t far off what Bradley averages either. The No84 has 3.68 progressive carries, 3.68 progressive passes and 0.87 successful take-ons. He’s averaged 1.94 shot creating actions. He’s not the most creative though, with an Expected Assists per 90 average of just 0.08.

It’s hard to judge Frimpong defensively. He’s in a different system for Bayer Leverkusen with different responsibilities. Just because he’s not rock solid defensively doesn’t mean he can’t be useful. He’s actually got a 50% challenge success rate - not far off Bradley and considerably ahead of Alexander-Arnold.

And while Bradley is making a habit out of those crunching tackles, he too needs to improve in one on one situations. He struggled against Arsenal yesterday in the second half and should've done better for their opener if we’re being brutally honest. The youngster is far from faultless there so adding Frimpong won't weaken us massively defensively.

Focus on what he's doing with the ball and this link makes a whole lot of sense.