Opta Analyst’s David Segar looks at the data to explain why Liverpool have chosen Jeremie Frimpong as Trent Alexander-Arnold's replacement.
Football moves on quickly.
On 5 May, Trent Alexander-Arnold announced he would leave Liverpool at the end of the season. Three weeks later, it was confirmed that Real Madrid have reached agreement with the Premier League champions to sign the right-back.
Now his replacement has been secured, with Jeremie Frimpong - pictured above in action against Liverpool last November - joining the Reds from Bayer Leverkusen.
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 this year, 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.
What is Frimpong's best position?
However, prior to Xabi Alonso’s arrival at the BayArena in October 2022, Frimpong had 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 Alex 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 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 provided 10 assists in 47 matches, with only three Leverkusen players managing more than his 24 goal involvements.
Frimpong's goal involvements 2023/24
Click here to enlarge the image
Leverkusen were not quite as successful in 2024/25, finishing second in the Bundesliga behind Bayern Munich, who also eliminated Alonso’s men from the UEFA Champions League in the last 16. Frimpong still managed a respectable 14 goal involvements (five goals, nine assists) in 48 matches, with again only three of his team-mates 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 have been a risk not to add another right-back to the ranks.
What kind of player is Frimpong?
The most eye-catching thing about Frimpong is his movement.
He sprints, a lot. According to Bundesliga data, Frimpong made the second-most sprints in the German top flight in 2024/25, with only RB Leipzig’s Ridle Baku (1,031) making more than his 1,021.
Frimpong is also very fast. He clocked the seventh-highest top speed in the Bundesliga in 2024/25 (36.34km/h), ahead of players such as Alphonso Davies (36.24km/h) and Karim Adeyemi (36.18km/h).
By comparison, only five players in the Premier League registered a higher speed in 2024/25. The fastest from a Liverpool player was 35.47km/h by Jarell Quansah.
On the ball, Liverpool will be losing a lot of long passes with Alexander-Arnold's departure. No Reds player attempted more than his 299 long passes – a pass that travels at least 32 metres – in 2024/25, while his accuracy was a respectable 42.1 per cent, considering how ambitious many of those passes are.
Frimpong made significantly fewer long passes in the 2024/25 Bundesliga, just 32, with 11 of his Leverkusen team-mates attempting more.
Click the arrows to compare Alexander-Arnold and Frimpong's long passes.
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 which other right-back is?
However, this isn’t to say Frimpong doesn’t get his team up the pitch. The Netherlands international just generally prefers 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 in 2024/25 had a longer average carry progress than Frimpong’s 8.3 metres (from 278 carries).
Thirty-one Bundesliga players made more than his 192 progressive carries – carrying the ball at least five metres upfield – in 2024/25. But in 109 of those carries, Frimpong progressed the ball at least 10 metres, a figure only 12 players could better. Once he gets going, he can be difficult to stop.
By contrast, Alexander-Arnold recorded just 64 long progressive carries in 2024/25.
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Frimpong is also effective in these situations. He recorded four assists following a carry in the Bundesliga this season, with only Leverkusen team-mate Florian Wirtz (five) and Wolfsburg’s Mohamed Amoura (six) having more.
When Frimpong played at right-back in 2021/22, his average carry progress was even higher at 9.7 metres (from 354 carries). Only Filip Kostic at Eintracht Frankfurt (10.1m from 384 carries) averaged longer carries that season in the Bundesliga (minimum 250 carries).
Another thing Liverpool will miss following Alexander-Arnold's departure is his crosses, and while Frimpong isn’t a set-piece taker, he produces plenty of crosses from open play. In fact, only Maximilian Mittelstadt 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 recorded more than his 22 successful open-play crosses, but Alexander-Arnold only bettered that by one (23) himself.
Frimpong also generally attempts them closer to the byline than Alexander-Arnold, though that will obviously be impacted by his higher starting position.
Click the arrows to compare Alexander-Arnold and Frimpong's open-play crosses.
Unless Liverpool change how they play out from the back, Frimpong can expect far more touches in an orthodox right-back role.
In 2024/25, he averaged just 50.1 touches per 90 minutes in the league, compared with Alexander Arnold’s 87.9 and Bradley’s 83.7.
A significant number of his touches come in dangerous areas, though obviously the fact he is a wing-back plays into that.
Only Wirtz (162) and Patrik Schick (118) had more touches in the opposition’s box than Frimpong (117) for Leverkusen in the Bundesliga in 2024/25, 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 averaged 5.4, which could be where Frimpong’s direct running begins to make more sense.
Arne Slot may want his right-back to burst into the penalty area more than Alexander-Arnold does, with Bradley doing so to great effect when he assisted Harvey Elliott’s opening goal in Liverpool’s 3-2 defeat at Brighton.
Click the arrows to compare Alexander-Arnold, Bradley and Frimpong's touches in the opposition box.
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 bad one.
As mentioned, from joining Leverkusen in January 2021 to Alonso’s arrival in October 2022, Frimpong played 43 Bundesliga matches, 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 with 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 per cent of his 1.7 aerial duels per 90.
In 2024/25, Alexander-Arnold averaged 2.7 tackles per 90 in the Premier League, with Bradley's stat much closer to Frimpong's at 1.7 tackles per 90. Alexander-Arnold averaged 1.2 interceptions to Bradley's 0.5; Alexander-Arnold won possession 5.0 times per 90 to Bradley’s 6.1.
Bradley did well in the air, winning 57.9 per cent of his 2.3 aerial duels per 90, but Alexander-Arnold only won 18.8 per cent of his 0.6.
How good is Frimpong at facing dribblers?
It is possible to assess which players are the most successful at facing dribblers but looking at the total number of "true tackles" attempted by players, which is a sum of successful tackles (where possession is regained or when the ball goes out of play and is safe), challenges lost (where a player attempts a tackle and doesn’t connect with the ball) and fouls when attempting a tackle.
It is a particularly notable metric here, because Alexander-Arnold actually had the lowest success rate for defenders in the Premier League in 2024/25 when it came to stopping opponents from dribbling past him.
He was dribbled past 2.1 times per 90 minutes, or 56 times in total, at least six more than any other Premier League defender.
It must be taken into account that Frimpong’s average position was higher than Alexander-Arnold’s, so he wasn't dribbled at as often, only attempting 53 true tackles in the Bundesliga in 2024/25, but he was only beaten 13 times (24.5 per cent).
Of the other 145 Bundesliga players to attempt at least 50 true tackles in 2024/25, only 35 had a better success rate.
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.
He does have a knack of sticking a foot out to prod the ball away, 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 further. Despite that true tackles statistic, Alexander-Arnold’s improvement as a defender under Slot was noticeable in 2024/25, and the Liverpool boss will back himself to teach any new full-back how to reach another level in that area too.
Frimpong enjoyed a strong bond with Alonso in Leverkusen, as exemplified with his celebration after scoring against Borussia Dortmund, when he raced over to the head coach and jumped into his arms in the final home game before Alonso joined Real Madrid.
How Salah and Frimpong could combine
It will be interesting to see how Frimpong might work with Mohamed Salah.
The Egyptian dominates Liverpool’s right side in attack, and their respective heat maps from 2024/25 (see below) suggests one would have to play more inside the pitch in the event they shared a flank.
Click the arrows to compare Frimpong and Salah's heat maps.
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 could be absent for several weeks in the middle of next season at the Africa Cup of Nations.
Not only did Frimpong play as an advanced wing-back under Alonso, but his Dutch 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.
Frimpong's 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 AC Milan midfielder before laying the ball back for him to provide the finish.
Frimpong's availability will also be seen as key. Frimpong played in 95 of Leverkusen’s 103 matches in all competitions across the last two campaigns.
Another plus would be that, due to his time at Man City, Frimpong counts as a homegrown player, particularly crucial considering Liverpool will be losing one in Alexander-Arnold.
The reaction of Liverpool fans to Alexander-Arnold in their 2-2 draw with Arsenal was aimed at a player who wanted to be elsewhere. 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 Premier League season has only just ended and here we are discussing transfers ahead of 2025/26. Like Frimpong, football really does move quickly.