As reports link Bayer Leverkusen’s Jeremie Frimpong with a move to Liverpool, we look at the data to see if the Netherlands international would be a good fit at Anfield.
Football moves on quickly.
Last Monday, Trent Alexander-Arnold announced he will be leaving Liverpool at the end of the season, reportedly on his way to Real Madrid upon the expiry of his contract at his boyhood club. On Sunday, much of the post-match discourse was on the reception he received at Anfield in his first appearance since that announcement.
Just two days later, reports emerged of a possible new right-back making his way to Merseyside. Bayer Leverkusen’s Jeremie Frimpong suddenly became heavily linked with the Premier League champions for a mooted fee of €35-40 million. Reports differ in terms of how close a transfer is, but it seems there is at least interest from both sides.
Perhaps the signs were already there. In an interview with Rising Ballers in January, Frimpong revealed he almost signed for Liverpool as a youngster but opted for Manchester City because the training ground was easier to get to.
“I chose Liverpool first,” he explained. “I was going to sign for them, but back then, driving wasn’t a thing. My family wasn’t driving and it was far. Man City was local, so it made more sense. It was 15 minutes on the bus.”
Then, in March as the Netherlands squad met up during the international break, Frimpong greeted Liverpool midfielder Ryan Gravenberch with “You alright, la?” in his best Scouse accent.
You’re alright, lad? @JeremieFrimpong! #NothingLikeOranje #NationsLeague pic.twitter.com/tTYkFS1NPl
— OnsOranje (@OnsOranje) March 18, 2025While that was likely just Frimpong being his usual cheeky and friendly self, it got Liverpool fans talking. Could the nippy Dutchman be a future option for the Reds, especially with doubts – which proved well-founded – at the time over Alexander-Arnold’s future?
The biggest debate was around whether Frimpong could even play right-back, having thrived in Leverkusen under Xabi Alonso as a wing-back, and a particularly advanced one at that.
However, prior to Alonso’s arrival at the BayArena in October 2022, Frimpong had largely spent his career at full-back in a back four, doing so during his youth years at Man City, 18 months at Celtic and his first two years in the Bundesliga.
It worked for Alonso, to say the least. By allowing Frimpong and left wing-back Álex Grimaldo to attack in high and wide positions, the Spaniard got plenty in return.
Frimpong was a major part of last season’s phenomenal campaign in which Bayer Leverkusen won their first ever Bundesliga title, going unbeaten in the process – the first team ever to do so in Germany – as well as winning the DFB-Pokal and reaching the final of the UEFA Europa League. Frimpong scored 14 goals and added 10 assists in 47 games, with only three Leverkusen players managing more than his 24 goal involvements.
This season hasn’t been quite as impressive for Die Werkself, set to finish second in the Bundesliga behind Bayern Munich, who also eliminated Alonso’s men from the Champions League in the last 16. Frimpong has still managed a respectable 14 goal involvements (5 goals, 9 assists) in 48 games, with again only three of his teammates bettering that tally.
With Alexander-Arnold departing Liverpool, Conor Bradley is expected to be given more opportunities. But with the Northern Ireland international missing a lot of games through injury in the last two seasons, it would be a risk not to add another.
At a press conference prior to Sunday’s draw with Arsenal, Liverpool boss Arne Slot hinted the club would be looking to sign someone assuming the fee was right and the desire was there from a potential incoming player.
“[As well as Joe Gomez and Jarell Quansah] we have got Conor Bradley and I have played Curtis Jones over there, so four players that can play that position,” he told reporters. “With one of them that is the ideal position [Bradley] and Joe Gomez can play there really well, in my opinion, but maybe his favourite position would be centre-back … for Jarell it’s the same.
“That’s the most difficult thing for a club like Liverpool … it’s not easy to find better players than we already have. And if they are there, they still need to be affordable and they need to want to come to our club. That last thing is mostly not the problem, by the way, but sometimes transfer fees are.”
So, what kind of player is Frimpong? We suggested him as an option recently after Alexander-Arnold’s impending departure was confirmed, but we’ll go into more detail on him here.
Arguably the most eye-catching thing about him is his movement.
He sprints, a lot. According to Bundesliga data, Frimpong has made the most sprints in the division this season, with his 1,021 at least 32 more than any other player.
Frimpong is also very fast. He has clocked the seventh-highest top speed in the German top flight in 2024-25 (36.34 km/h), ahead of the likes of Alphonso Davies (36.24 km/h) and Karim Adeyemi (36.18 km/h).
By comparison, only six players in the Premier League have registered a higher speed this season. The fastest from a Liverpool player is 34.92 km/h by Luis Díaz, which is a slower top speed than 51 other Premier League players recorded.
On the ball, Liverpool will be losing a lot of long passes when Alexander-Arnold departs. No Reds player has attempted more than his 286 long passes – a pass that travels at least 32 metres – this season, while he has a respectable 42% accuracy considering how ambitious many of those passes are.
Frimpong has made significantly fewer in the 2024-25 Bundesliga, just 32, with 11 of his Bayer Leverkusen teammates attempting more. He does have a similar completion rate to Alexander-Arnold (44%), though it’s difficult to read too much into that given the pretty small sample size. You might think that’s impacted by his advanced position, but Frimpong only attempted 77 long passes in 2021-22 when primarily playing at full-back; essentially, he just isn’t as expansive with his passing as Alexander-Arnold – but what right-back is?
However, this isn’t to say he doesn’t advance the ball. The Netherlands international just happens to prefer running with the ball than passing it.
A carry is when a player moves five or more metres with the ball, and only two players in the Bundesliga to attempt at least 250 carries this season have a longer average carry progress than Frimpong’s 8.3 metres (from 278 carries).
Thirty Bundesliga players have more than his 192 progressive carries – carrying the ball at least five metres upfield – this season. But 109 of those saw Frimpong progress the ball at least 10m, a figure only 13 players can better. Once he gets going, he can be difficult to stop.
By contrast, Alexander-Arnold has recorded just 63 long progressive carries this term.
Frimpong is also effective in this situations. He has four assists following a carry in the Bundesliga this season, with only teammate Florian Wirtz and Wolfsburg’s Mohammed Amoura (both five) having at least as many.
When Frimpong played at right-back in 2021-22, his average carry progress was even higher at 9.7m (from 354 carries). Only Filip Kostic at Eintracht Frankfurt (10.1m from 384 carries) averaged longer carries that season in the Bundesliga (min. 250 carries).
Another thing Liverpool will miss when Alexander-Arnold is gone is his crosses, and while Frimpong isn’t a set-piece taker, he produces plenty of crosses from open play. In fact, only Maximilian Mittelstädt has attempted more than Frimpong’s 116 open-play crosses in the Bundesliga this season.
There are potentially gains to be had with respect to his accuracy, as seven players have recorded more than his 22 successful open-play crosses, but Alexander-Arnold only bettered that by one (23). Frimpong also generally attempts them closer to the byline than the England international, though that will obviously be impacted by his higher starting position.
Unless Liverpool change how they play out from the back, Frimpong can expect far more touches at Liverpool in an orthodox right-back role. This season he has averaged just 50.1 touches per 90 minutes in the league, compared to Alexander Arnold’s 87.2 and Bradley’s 85.1.
A significant number of his touches come in dangerous areas, though obviously the fact he’s a wing-back plays into that. Only Wirtz (120) has had more touches in the opposition’s box than Frimpong (117) for Leverkusen in the Bundesliga this season, while his 4.5 touches in the opposition’s box per 90 is significantly more than Alexander-Arnold’s 1.9. However, despite playing at right-back rather than wing-back, Bradley has averaged 5.3, which could be where Frimpong’s style begins to make more sense. Slot may want his right-back to burst into the penalty area more than Alexander-Arnold does.
Where some people have struggled to see the sense in pursuing Frimpong is the defensive side of the game. Alexander-Arnold is an elite talent but has had to put up with pundits discussing his supposed defensive frailties for years, and some are already looking at Frimpong as a potential liability in that area, too.
It would be inaccurate to say Frimpong is a great defender, but it would also be unfair to say he’s a particularly bad one.
As mentioned, from joining Leverkusen in January 2021 to Alonso’s arrival in October 2022, Frimpong played 43 Bundesliga games, largely at right-back. This is therefore probably the most relevant time to judge his defensive numbers given the difference in what is asked of a full-back defensively compared to a wing-back.
In that time, Frimpong averaged 1.6 tackles per 90, 0.6 interceptions and won possession 4.8 times per 90. He also won 40.7% of his 1.7 aerial duels per 90.
This season, Alexander-Arnold and Bradley are both averaging 2.6 tackles per 90 in the Premier League; the former is averaging 1.2 interceptions and the latter 0.8; Alexander-Arnold has won possession 5.0 times per 90 to Bradley’s 4.9. Bradley has done well in the air, winning 58.1% of his 2.2 aerial duels per 90, but Alexander-Arnold has only won 28.6% of his 0.6.
Frimpong’s pace allows him to get back and cover counter-attacks, though he could do with working on his body shape once he does, sometimes struggling to slow down enough to stop an attacker from cutting inside. Occasionally when a winger stands him up, Frimpong can also be too head-on, meaning he can be unbalanced when said winger picks a direction to try and burst past him. He does have a knack of sticking a foot out to prod the ball away before that can happen, though, and is capable of using his agility and small frame to his advantage, wriggling between the attacker and the ball when space allows.
There is also the fact that, at 24, Frimpong can still be coached. His role at Leverkusen hasn’t required much defending, so the focus has been more on his attacking output. Alexander-Arnold’s improvement as a defender under Slot has been noticeable this season, and the former Feyenoord boss will back himself to teach any new full-back how to reach another level in that area too.
Frimpong has enjoyed a strong bond with his current head coach, as exemplified at the weekend when his goal against Borussia Dortmund saw him celebrate by racing over to Alonso and jumping into his arms in the Spaniard’s final home game before likely teaming up with Alexander-Arnold at Real Madrid.
One Liverpool player who is going nowhere is Mohamed Salah, and it will be interesting to see how Frimpong might work with him if they end up on the same team.
The Egyptian dominates Liverpool’s right side in attack, and their respective heat maps from this season suggests one would have to play more inside in the event they shared a flank.
Then again, with the once rapid Salah turning 33 this summer, he might enjoy having someone else distract defenders with sprints down the outside while he cuts inside looking for more and more goals to add to his collection.
Frimpong’s experience of playing higher up the pitch could also see him provide cover for Salah, who will be absent for several weeks in the middle of next season at the Africa Cup of Nations.
Not only has the 24-year-old been playing as an advanced wing-back under Alonso, but his national team manager, Ronald Koeman, mostly utilised him as a winger during the last UEFA Nations League campaign, including in the semi-finals against Spain. His assist for Tijjani Reijnders’ goal in the first leg was a good example of what he can offer in that role, playing a give-and-go with the Milan midfielder before laying the ball back for him to provide the finish.
Frimpong Reijnders.#NothingLikeOranje #NEDESP pic.twitter.com/XRwlxKgekl
— OnsOranje (@OnsOranje) March 22, 2025His availability will also be seen as key. Assuming Frimpong features in Bayer Leverkusen’s final game of the season on Saturday against Mainz, he will have played in 96 of Leverkusen’s 103 games in all competitions across the last two campaigns.
Another plus would be that, due to his time at Man City, Frimpong technically counts as a homegrown player, particularly crucial considering Liverpool will be losing one in Alexander-Arnold.
The reaction of Liverpool fans to Alexander-Arnold on Sunday was aimed at a player who doesn’t want to be at the club anymore. It’s notable that most stories about Frimpong’s arrival have emphasised the player’s apparent desire to be a part of things at Anfield.
The 2024-25 season isn’t even over yet and here we are discussing potential transfers ahead of 2025-26. Like Jeremie Frimpong, football really does move quickly.
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Fewer Long Passes, More Progressive Carries: What Liverpool Would Be Getting With Jeremie Frimpong Opta Analyst.
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