Liverpool have moved quickly to make sure they won’t be caught short at right-back this summer.
The Reds are set to lose starting full-back Trent Alexander-Arnold after more than eight years in the first-team.
Alexander-Arnold has developed into one of the best right-backs in world football during his time with Liverpool and will undoubtedly be missed as a creative force.
However, the Reds are setting about proving that Alexander-Arnold can be replaced. Conor Bradley signed a new contract on Saturday and Jeremie Frimpong will have a medical on Monday. Liverpool are in good shape.
Part of the reason the Reds have been able to move so fast has been that Alexander-Arnold’s exit has been in the post. He has clearly been keen to leave for some time now.
And as the Liverpool academy graduate gears up to join Real Madrid, some interesting details have emerged to suggest that Arne Slot may have actually been keen to sell him last summer.
Photo by Carl Recine/Getty Images
Photo by Carl Recine/Getty Images
Liverpool tried to sign Jeremie Frimpong in 2024
Alexander-Arnold’s exit has hurt Liverpool fans, of that there is no doubt. But it will also leave them without a world-class footballer.
Replacing the 26-year-old will not be easy, but according to Give Me Sport, Slot actually tried to set those wheels in motion 12 months ago.
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They claim that Liverpool first approached Bayer Leverkusen about a deal for Frimpong last summer.
Unfortunately for the Reds, Leverkusen boss Xabi Alonso is said to have persuaded the Dutchman to stay for another season.
READ MORE: Whether Liverpool really did throw Trent Alexander-Arnold a leaving party on Friday as footage emerges
Although it’s claimed that Alexander-Arnold’s future was ‘far from clear’ at that point, it seems unlikely that Slot and Liverpool would have tried for Frimpong if they thought the No. 66 was staying.
It’s likely that Alexander-Arnold would have stayed even if the new man had been signed in 2024. But that Slot was attempting to bring Frimpong in anyway suggests he knew the direction of travel long ago.
Would Liverpool have sold Alexander-Arnold?
It would have been interesting to see how things had played out if Liverpool had managed to snare Frimpong ahead of this season.
That would have left Alexander-Arnold, Frimpong and Bradley as options for Slot. Surely too many for one position.
With Liverpool convinced of Bradley’s potential and Frimpong a new signing, that would have left Alexander-Arnold as the odd one out. Maybe the Reds would have looked for a sale.
The sad truth, however, is that Real Madrid would surely have been uninterested in paying a fee for Alexander-Arnold when they could bring him on a free one year later.
With the right-back seemingly set on a move to the Bernabeu, Liverpool would likely have found it difficult to sell him anywhere else. Although this has backfired on the Reds, at least they have had a long time to plan what to do with Frimpong and should have no trouble bedding the new boy in.