Liverpool are not necessarily as keen on signing Jeremie Frimpong as recent reports have suggested, Reds transfer expert David Lynch has claimed.
Following the announcement last week by Trent Alexander-Arnold that he would leave the club in the summer when his contract expires, fans have speculated that boss Arne Slot would look to the transfer market to replace the defender.
Bayer Leverkusen wing-back Frimpong has been strongly linked with a move from Germany to Anfied, with some reports suggesting that negotiations are at an advanced stage.
However, Lynch urged caution and reiterated that he is sceptical about any potential deal materialising, telling Sports Mole: “I’m not massively convinced. There’s a lot of noise and I don’t buy into it, and people I speak to don’t give me the impression that that’s the case. Neck on the line a little bit and we’ll see how it plays out.
“Ultimately the deal is there for Liverpool to do it if they want to and maybe they will come towards it further in the window and think ‘there’s not a lot of great options, we need cover, he can play on the wing sometimes for us, he can cover right-back if we need and he’s homegrown. He’s very cheap let’s do it.'”
With Conor Bradley already at the club, it would be surprising if Slot did not give the 21-year-old a chance to claim a spot in the starting XI.
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Defensive risks
Though Frimpong is excellent in the final third, bringing him in to start on the right of a back four could be risky given he has predominantly played as a wing-back in a back five.
The 24-year-old has often taken up advanced positions for Leverkusen that would be more akin to that of a forward player, and asking him to take up a relatively new position at Liverpool could see him exposed defensively.
Lynch expressed concern when asked about whether Frimpong could adapt to playing as a right-back when he told Sports Mole: “I’m not convinced that they’re going into the summer thinking they need to sign Jeremie Frimpong to be the starting right-back next season – I don’t believe that to be the case.
“We saw him for Leverkusen at Anfield this season – he was playing right-wing, he was pushed up against the full-back. We didn’t see any of his defensive qualities because he didn’t have to [show any], and it’s not a strength of his when you look at his numbers. He doesn’t seem like an orthodox right-back in any way.
“I get the impression from people I speak to that he would like the move and I think that’s where a lot of this talk is coming from, but I’m not convinced that he’s a Liverpool target. I wouldn’t understand it if he was. Maybe Liverpool will find themselves boxed in towards the end of the window and think ‘we’re short, he’s homegrown, he can play a couple of positions, he’s cheap, it’s low risk – let’s do it.'”
Frimpong will reportedly be available for a fee in the region of £29.5m, so perhaps Liverpool might see signing him as an opportunity to significantly strengthen the depth of their squad for a relatively modest sum.
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Do Liverpool want a starting right-back?
Bradley has only started 12 games in all competitions for Liverpool this term but he has shown great promise in his limited minutes, with the defender excelling against the likes of Real Madrid at Anfield in November.
While the right-back has also experienced his fair share of injuries – missing nearly 50 matches as a result of various issues since the start of last season – Slot has indicated that his problems could lessen with more game time.
Speaking to Sports Mole, Lynch cast doubt on whether the club would want to sign a starter to replace Alexander-Arnold, saying: “A lot of the time it’s quite easy to say Liverpool are looking at X, Y or Z because they always are looking at options. This is one of the things that gets underrated about transfers and scouting and recruitment staff – they will have watched Jeremie Frimpong this season 100%. They’re not daft.
“I still do not have any concrete indication that they’re definitely going to sign in that position. They’ll know they’ll need something there [considering] there’s a big chance for Joe Gomez to go, but you can’t say that with any certainty because it needs the interest to come and crystallize. There’s a chance for him to go so you lose cover at right-back.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if the route they go down is to sign someone who is cover and give Conor Bradley a go because it would be utterly stupid for them to have a right-back of that quality coming through their academy and ignore him just because the guy who was before him was a complete unicorn. He’s not quite Trent but nobody on the market is quite Trent, but Conor Bradley can offer you different things.”
Bradley’s intense playing style could be of benefit to talisman Mohamed Salah, who may need others to do more running around him as he ages.
