According to a Bundesliga transfer insider, Arne Slot has had numerous phone calls with a player from the German top flight who the Liverpool head coach wanted to bring to Anfield last summer.
Reports from Germany in June 2024 had claimed that the Meseyside club made an enquiry as to the availability of Bayer Leverkusen full-back Jeremie Frimpong; and when the Netherlands squad convened for international duty earlier this week, he notably greeted the Reds contingent with a strong Scouse accent.
That humorous exchange wasn’t lost on LFC supporters who may have interpreted it as adding fuel to the fire over a potential move to the Premier League leaders, and the 24-year-old certainly has one firm admirer in L4.
Slot has been in regular contact with Frimpong
In his latest Fact Files column, Christian Falk wrote that Slot and Frimpong have had frequent phone correspondence in recent weeks and shared some details of the conversations which were shared, although Liverpool fans were advised not to get too excited just yet about the former Celtic defender coming to Anfield.
The Bundesliga expert outlined: “Jeremie Frimpong and Arne Slot were on the phone a lot last month. Both are Dutch, and Slot wanted to sign him in the summer. The Liverpool head coach had been telling the full-back he was still keen to get him.
“However, he’s very upfront and honest, so Frimpong is aware that, at the moment, a striker and a defender are the main targets for Liverpool, who aren’t going to get any fees in for Virgil van Dijk, Mo Salah or Trent Alexander-Arnold should all three leave at the end of their contracts this summer.
“He knows that he’s No.3 on the to-do list for Arne Slot, but if the club can manage to sign both a striker and a defender – he will be the next target. His release clause is nearly €40m [£33.5m], so it’s a lot of money!”
Frimpong would add an incredible attacking threat for Liverpool
If – as seems increasingly likely – Trent leaves Liverpool in the summer, his attacking output from right-back would be fiendlishly difficult to replace, with our current vice-captain accumulating more than 100 goal contributions since his first-team debut eight seasons ago.
One of the few who’d look capable of replicating (perhaps even exceeding) such an impact is Frimpong, who has four goals and 11 assists already this season, and 69 G/A in 182 matches in total for Leverkusen.
The 24-year-old is also renowned for having ‘the pace to eat up ground’ along the right flank (bundesliga.com) and boasts some of the best underlying performance metrics among positional peers in Europe’s five main leagues.
Across that subcategory of right-backs over the past year, the Dutchman ranks in the top 1% with his match averages for non-penalty xG and touches in the opposition penalty area, top 2% for shots and progressive carries, top 5% for non-penalty goals and top 11% for assists (FBref).
Those figures suggest that Frimpong would be a massively exciting replacement for Trent if the latter were to depart, but with Liverpool already having an excellent positional alternative in Conor Bradley, we can see why Slot is keen to address other parts of the squad more urgently in the summer.
Nonetheless, it’s clear that the Reds boss is a huge admirer of his compatriot at Leverkusen and, if circumstance are favourable, would love to bring him in as a further addition to the Dutch contingent at Anfield!
