Bam bam. Those were the words used by Arne Slot on Saturday to describe Jeremie Frimpong, describing his raw pace and ability to make something out of nothing to unlock a tight defensive rearguard.
It is in keeping with the words of one of his former coaches, ex-Celtic boss Neil Lennon, who told Daily Mail Sport in May: ‘He’s a little assassin. Nothing will faze him. He has initial speed and then carries it on for 30-40 yards. Good control, good reading of the game, end product.’
Another reference is from Dutch legend Mark van Bommel, who told us: ‘Importantly, he is clever, he can adapt to every situation on the pitch and think about it. That is the Dutch way. We are a small country so you need to be smart technically, you need to adapt.’
So, to put it mildly, Frimpong has all the attributes of a top-level modern player. Tick, tick, tick of the boxes. It is believed the 25-year-old has been spending masses of time working on the defensive side of his game to become more of a rounded player, too.
The only problem is that we just have not seen him. Not yet. Two hamstring injuries have limited Frimpong to just two Premier League starts since his £29.5million move to Liverpool from Bayer Leverkusen. He had not missed a league match for three years before his move to England.
Now he is back fully fit and is looking like a solution to Liverpool’s problems. He won’t solve everything, of course – but the Dutch international, once of Manchester City, is offering a new dimension that the English champions have lacked for weeks if not months.
Jeremie Frimpong’s raw pace adds another dimension to the Liverpool attack
He has been at the heart of two goals in the last two outings to prove as much, with a deft cross looped in the air for Hugo Ekitike to head home at Tottenham last week and then a clever pullback for Ryan Gravenberch to open the scoring against Wolves.
Both came at times when the Reds were struggling to unlock stubborn defences. That is what Frimpong was signed to do – after all, he had scored 19 goals and assisted 24 across the last two seasons for Leverkusen when he won the Bundesliga and German Cup.
Those are simply astonishing numbers for a full back and exactly why Liverpool wanted him. They also saw him as someone who could deputise for Mohamed Salah at right wing, which we may see in the upcoming weeks.
Slot had a desire to evolve the way his full backs operate after watching Achraf Hakimi and Nuno Mendes flourish for champions of Europe, Paris Saint-Germain. The boss studied Luis Enrique’s flying full back duo for months.
They played a key role as PSG knocked Liverpool out of the Champions League – that last-16 tie was worthy of the final with two teams at the peak of their powers – but Slot and Co had been keeping an eye on Frimpong and Bournemouth’s Milos Kerkez for some time.
Though it was not until March that Trent Alexander-Arnold officially informed the Reds he would not be signing a new contract, it was an open secret for some time that he would depart for Real Madrid, with Daily Mail Sport reporting he was Spain-bound on Boxing Day of last year.
Funnily enough a month after that we wrote how Frimpong had signed a record-breaking £20m boot deal with New Balance that would see him become one of their faces of football. It was clear then that he was bound for a super-club with Liverpool keen at the time.
Slot noted that he could not replace the unique style of Alexander-Arnold but knew he could add a new dimension in Frimpong, Kerkez and the all-action Conor Bradley. ‘Conor is in his own league when it comes to running a lot, comparable maybe with Hakimi,’ said Slot in May.
Arne Slot wants to use Frimpong like PSG use their full-backs as a key part of the attack
Frimpong is working on the defensive side of his game while working on techniques to stay fit and avoid the niggly injuries that have thus far pockmarked his season. He is described as a bubbly character who is well-liked in the dressing room.
Speaking ahead of Liverpool’s New Year’s Day clash with Leeds, Slot added: ‘We had to make one change in that position because Trent left. That was not ideal for me as Trent was so important to this club and was very important for me last season.
‘When we looked in the market, Jeremie was one of the first we noticed. He has that pace similar to Conor, Milos and Robbo. That pace is one thing going forward but also if you face the forwards of PSG or many Premier League teams with very, very, very fast wingers.
‘It is definitely helpful to have them. Unfortunately for them they have not always had the same players in front of them. So it is still a work in progress. Especially because too many times not all of them have been available and we have had to change because of load management.
‘But bit by bit, we see players and the team improving.’
Frimpong is certainly one of them. He is improving every day under Slot and can be a solution to their many problems with his unique style. Bam bam.
