It’s been a strange old season for Liverpool, who have been crowned Premier League champions but feel to have faced an inordinate amount of adversity for a team succeeding in winning the country’s biggest prize.
For most of the campaign, Arne Slot’s side have resembled the committed, composed and cultured team of champions, beating off so many opponents and looking, even before Christmas, to be nailed on for a first-place finish.
Mohamed Salah has been the architect, rampaging his way through the season as he made good on a promise and delivered another top-flight title to the Reds fanbase. Excitingly, the story’s not over after his two-year contract extension.
Sadly, Trent Alexander-Arnold will not be joining the rest of Anfield’s superstars for the next phase of the Slot era. Instead, the vice-captain is leaving on a free transfer at the end of the season, with Real Madrid the destination.
Liverpool's painful divorce
Maybe you could argue Alexander-Arnold represented the totemic image of the Jurgen Klopp era; you could stake compelling cases for Virgil van Dijk and Salah too.
This has been a season of many parts for those paying attention at Anfield. Last summer’s upheaval threatened everything, but a Salah-led season has reaped the biggest reward, with the Egyptian King incredibly scoring 33 goals and providing 23 assists across all competitions.
But now Alexander-Arnold’s legacy has been shifted and swirled into a new pattern, one which, for some supporters, is irretrievably broken, unalterably damaged by the decision to leave for Real Madrid and conduct his business, in the long, quiet build-up, with the undeniable air of slyness.
Ah well, we’ll get over it. The fact that Slot has won the Premier League trophy in his first season helps, after all. But the coach will hardly want his own legacy to be defined by a flash-in-the-pan title success, driven by Salah’s absurd season. This is a long-term project.
FSG have their foibles, but they are swift and shrewd and savvy in the transfer market. Is it any surprise that Alexander-Arnold’s successor is already being lined up?
Liverpool open talks for Trent successor
Recent reports suggest that Salah’s set to have a new partner down the right flank, with Bayer Leverkusen’s Jeremie Frimpong emerging as the primary target to bolster Liverpool’s looming gap at right-back.
It’s claimed that an agreement (in principle) is in place with the Netherlands international regarding a transfer this summer, with a five-year contract slated.
Sky Germany have corroborated the claims, revealing that the 24-year-old’s release clause in the region of €40m (about £34m) should see a deal run smoothly if Liverpool are indeed ready to replace Alexander-Arnold with a new right-sider.
Why Jeremie Frimpong would suit Liverpool
Conor Bradley tempers the need for an Alexander-Arnold replacement, but the Northern Irishman is raw and lacks completeness. However, he has the properties to reach that level.
Frimpong would simply add a string to the bow, one which Slot could use to fire his Liverpool team further into the ascendancy by adding a very unique dimension.
As per FBref, Frimpong ranks among the top 6% of full-backs across Europe’s top five leagues this season for goal involvements, the top 2% for progressive carries and the top 20% for crosses per 90. He has the talent to succeed Alexander-Arnold, not least because he won an invincible domestic double under Xabi Alonso’s wing last year.
His progress in Germany has been quite a thing, leaving Celtic in January 2021 and since becoming “one of the best wing-backs in Europe,” as commented by talent scout Jacek Kulig.
24/25
48
5
12
23/24
47
14
12
22/23
48
9
11
21/22
34
2
8
20/21
13
0
1
Operating within Slot’s system would also dispel the myth that he’s deficient in a defensive capacity. While Frimpong’s bursts of pace and almost possessed hunger for goals and assists suggest he lacks at the back, there’s evidence to point toward the contrary.
Picture this: it’s Bayer Leverkusen in the Bundesliga, before Alonso took over and lifted the club to heights simply unimaginable, even from the most optimistic of ultras. Under Alonso, Frimpong has played a half season, and then a full one, and now he’s a few months deep into his second.
At this stage, the Dutchman plays a more conventional full-back’s role, settled onto the right wing of the backline but with a license to dart forward with menace when chances arise.
Hailed as a “flying machine” by journalist Kevin Hatchard and described as an “insane” player in the final third by analyst Ben Mattinson, the concerns relating to the defensive issues that may arise from Frimpong’s signing, especially in piling a defensive burden back onto Salah, are understandable, but the wing-back will likely prove a few wrong if he winds up on Merseyside.
For example, his ground duel success in the German top flight is 45% this season, 49% across the last Bundesliga term (as per Sofascore). However, given he spends most of his time in the attacking half, he wouldn’t be expected to win the lion’s share of his challenges.
Arsenal’s Bukayo Saka, who bears a similar heatmap this year, has won 51% of his ground battles, regarded as one of the most combative attacking profiles in the business.
Back in 2021/22, the last full season Frimpong spent as an actual full-back, he won 59% of such duels, of which he averaged five per game. He averaged two tackles and interceptions per fixture too.
He could prove a few wrong as the new star of the show at right-back, a bit like when Salah arrived in 2017 and took Phil Coutinho’s mantle as Liverpool’s star attacker. Of course, it’s not quite the same, for the Brazilian playmaker completed half a season alongside Salah, but he tried to force his way out in the summer of the 32-year-old’s arrival.
Losing Coutinho was a bit like losing Trent. It felt like the world was ending for Liverpool, who had just started to really get going for Klopp and had lost one of their prized and unique superstars.
Liverpool endured and ended up being better for it. But therein lies the point of difference. Alexander-Arnold is leaving on a free transfer, and the only benefit FSG are receiving is the easing of the wage bill after Van Dijk and Salah’s bumped-up salaries.
Salah’s commitment to the cause is one of the principal reasons behind his matchless standing within the Liverpool community. Bringing in a personality such as Frimpong could certainly help the Reds forget about Alexander-Arnold and advance Slot’s vision.
The £65k-per-week Frimpong really could prove to be Slot’s very own Salah signing, replacing a club icon and actually going on to help Liverpool reach the next level. While it’s unlikely Frimpong would reach the same giddy heights as his predecessor, he could thrive in a tussle for the top spot with Bradley.
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