Liverpool might pay $40million this summer to sign a player who could have joined the club for free as a child.
That’s because Jeremie Frimpong is attracting attention from the Reds as the club looks to find a replacement for Trent Alexander-Arnold. Liverpool holds a genuine interest in Frimpong, who has admirers across Europe.
With a release clause of around €35M ($40M/£30M), Frimpong’s time at Bayer Leverkusen is drawing to a close, and the Dutchman is expected to move on this summer. Whether that’s to Liverpool or elsewhere remains to be seen.
But Frimpong could have joined for free as a nine-year-old. Despite being born in Amsterdam, Frimpong’s career in the game began in England, where he moved at age six. He signed for Manchester City’s youth team but never played a senior game for the club before departing in 2019.
But City was never his first choice, as the right-back revealed in an interview with Rising Baller in March.
“I was playing striker and scored a hat-trick in a final, I won player of the tournament,” Frimpong explained, as he recalled his journey to joining City.
“There were scouts there like Liverpool, Bolton, Man City and a lot more. But I chose Liverpool first.
(Image: Getty Images)
“I was going to sign for them but back then, driving wasn’t a thing, my family wasn’t driving like that and it was far.
“And obviously, Man City was local so I tried Man City next and it made more sense. It was 15 minutes on the bus, so yeah.”
Frimpong joined Celtic in 2019 and, during his time in Glasgow, caught the attention of clubs from Europe’s top leagues. After two years he signed for Leverkusen, where he has since become one of Europe’s most promising young right-backs.
(Image: Getty Images)
The attack-minded defender often operates as a right wing-back rather than a conventional full-back, one reason Liverpool could be wary of making a serious attempt to sign the 24-year-old. Arne Slot has preferred to operate with more traditional full-backs this season, resulting in lower attacking output from Alexander-Arnold and Andy Robertson.
Frimpong, who has earned 12 international caps for the Netherlands, has played every single Bundesliga game for Leverkusen this season and only missed three matches in the unbeaten title-winning campaign in 2023/24.
Speaking in Friday’s press conference, Slot did seem to imply Conor Bradley is capable of being Liverpool’s new first-choice right-back and implied he does not need to strengthen in that position despite Alexander-Arnold’s imminent exit. However, adding depth at right-back seems like a necessity this summer, especially with Bradley’s injury record.
