Jeremie Frimpong is officially a Red today, with Liverpool moving at pace to acquire the exceptionally rapid 24-year-old flügelsprinter (or wing-runner in English) from Bayer Leverkusen as the replacement for departed right back Trent Alexander-Arnold.
It’s an exciting move for an exciting player, one who arrives as a bargain due to a €35M release clause Liverpool were able to take advantage of, and the player says that joining the 2024-25 Premier League champions was a rather easy decision to make.
“I’m playing for Liverpool, what more can I say?” Frimpong noted on his unveiling. “I think it went quite easy. Liverpool came and said they had interest, and obviously for me it was a no-brainer. For me, it was like, ‘Whatever you guys do, just get this done.’”
More interesting than his decision to join the Reds now, perhaps, is that he almost joined them once before. Frimpong visited Liverpool’s academy as a youth player and was courted by the club, but in the end he joined Manchester City’s academy in 2010.
He’s said since that Liverpool would have been his pick, but City were closer to his home town, making transport was easier for the youngster and his family. After City, Frimpong joined Celtic in 2019 before making the switch to Leverkusen in 2021.
“You always want to play for the top teams as a footballer, as a kid,” he said. “When I was younger and Liverpool first came, that was a no-brainer as well, but due to transportation I had to go a different way. And look at me now. So, it has worked really well.”
He will also be joining plenty of national team teammates with the Reds, with fellow Dutchmen Virgil van Dijk, Cody Gakpo, and Ryan Gravenberch in the squad—and Dutchman Arne Slot the manager, with Dirk Kuyt rumoured to soon arrive as assistant.
“I have had a few conversations with them,” Frimpong added. “Virgil has called me and told me a little bit more about Liverpool and the expectations. That’s what I expect from Virgil with how he is in the national team—he’s a big character, captain.
“They have [all] told me good things. I was born in Amsterdam but I was raised in England so of course I know the culture. I think I’m going to settle in well.”