Liverpool have signed Jeremie Frimpong for £29.5 million and he returns to England after spells with Celtic and Bayer Leverkusen.
Neil Lennon has lifted the lid on unearthing Jeremie Frimpong after signing for Liverpool.
At Leverkusen, Frimpong helped the German club win their maiden Bundesliga title in the 2023-24 campaign along with the DFB-Pokal. His career has been on an upward trajectory and Manchester City may look back in some regret. Frimpong came through the academy ranks at the Etihad Stadium but never made a first-team appearance.
He left City to join Celtic in 2019 for just £250,000. He helped the Scottish giants win the domestic treble before moving to Leverkusen in January 2021 a reported £11.5 million.
What’s been said
Lennon, who recently appeared on theOpen Goal podcast, was Celtic manager who oversaw the signing of Frimpong. And the former midfielder had nothing but praise for the Netherlands international. Lennon said: “Frimpong, I got him for £250k! And now he’s signing for Liverpool for £30 million. We played a bounce game, Man City brought an Under-21s team up.
“I went down to watch it and just saw this kid and was just like, ‘Oh, he’s good!’ He kept going and he had great fitness levels, good speed, good technique. I was looking for a right-back, thought he could… ‘Yeah, he’s alright, him’. Got the deal done, he came in and he was just… couldn’t keep him out of the team! In training, he was ridiculous. Me and John Kennedy (Celtic assistant manager) were looking at each other going: ‘F**king hell, wow!’
“Then he got into the team and a year later he’s off to Leverkusen. Look what he’s done out there, won the league, won the double. Going out there as a young man to Germany takes a bit of b*****ks but he’s excelled and now he’s going to the Premier League champions. I’m so happy for him.”
Frimpong explains decision
Frimpong has had somewhat of an unorthodox career so far. While he was born in the Netherlands, he spent the majority of his childhood in England. He could have stayed longer at City but instead opted to move to Celtic at the age of 19. And speaking to Liverpool's club website after signing, he admitted that getting out of his comfort zone - albeit being prodded by his brother - ensured he grew as a player.
Frimpong said: “One hundred per cent. I was immature back then, I was still a kid. I was just thinking about leaving my friends. That was more important to me at that point because obviously I grew up with them, went to school with them. So for me it was like, ‘Ah, I’m not going to see them now.’ All my brother gave me was a wake-up call. It was needed, 100 per cent, because I really did want to turn [back] that day. But then my brother was like, ‘OK, listen, it’s your chance now. You have to show them.’ And now I’m here. Of course that mindset has changed, 100 per cent.”
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