Why Jeremie Frimpong will be just fine in the Premier League

Liverpool are about to complete their first signing of the summer. Jeremie Frimpong is on his way to Anfield to replace Trent Alexander-Arnold, arguably the best right-back of all time. 

I’ve seen a lot of people online with huge questions about this move with the majority of the criticisms revolving around Frimpong’s defensive deficiencies and lack of height being key features of why he will struggle to adapt to English football. Many fans are wondering why Liverpool have opted to sign a ‘right-back’ who might be even worse defensively than Trent and I’m sure there’s fans who might already be labeling this move as a flop.

However, I think we need to take a step back here because Frimpong isn’t a right-back. He has played his best football, at Leverkusen and Celtic - as more or less a right winger with little defensive responsibility. In fact, since Alonso has moved to more of a four at the back formation with the ball in possession this season, Frimpong has featured predominantly as a right-winger and not as a right-back. 

I’m sure Michael Edwards and Arne Slot are more than aware of this fact and so I will be very surprised if we see the Dutch manager play him as a traditional right-back. I think it will be more likely to see Frimpong operate as a winger in possession and then Salah will move slightly inwards - getting him closer to the box where he can impact the game more with his finishing and daint crosses that he’s added to his arsenal in recent years. To me this makes a lot of sense, Salah’s legs are slowly going so why waste his talents by having him hog the touchline where he is no longer as electric as he was when he arrived in England in 2017. With Frimpong you have someone who excels in these wide positions in the final third - running at defenders and whipping in crosses is his bread and butter and so I assume he will be used in a way to get the best out of his skillset.

Football is barely about positions anymore. Frimpong and Trent might sort of play in the same position with the ‘right-back’ and ‘right-wing-back’ label but if you look at how they play, they couldn’t be more different. And so why would Arne Slot, one of the best managers in Europe, use them in the same way? I have faith that Slot is smart enough to not cram players into positions that their skillset doesn’t suit. I see Frimpong as more of an attacking signing if anything and I have the expectation that he will be tasked with taking some of the offensive burden off Mo Salah. In fact, if Liverpool were to sign a right-sided defender after Frimpong I wouldn't be surprised. 

Trent obviously is an amazing player with abilities that can’t be replicated by any right-back in the world right now. And I’m sure the Liverpool recruitment team knows this. Instead they need to find other ways to replace the Englishman's talents and I believe in signing Frimpong, output from the right side will remain high. He’s never excelled as a traditional right-back in his career so why would he suddenly be played there in the most physically-demanding league in the world?

Frimpong is a great player when in a system that allows his strengths to flourish. He may be weak defensively but if you have a good structure around him to alleviate his weaknesses, it shouldn’t matter too much. I have a lot of trust that Slot already knows how he will use him in a way that will show the world just how good Jeremie Frimpong is.

Maybe not to the same extent as Trent, but you can’t replace a generational talent with one player.