Liverpool manager Arne Slot has revealed that he was forced to bring off Jeremie Frimpong in Friday's 4-2 Premier League win over Bournemouth due to a hamstring complaint.
The former Bayer Leverkusen man made his full Premier League debut for the Reds as expected at Anfield, although he only lasted until the hour mark before being withdrawn.
Liverpool were comfortably in the ascendancy before Slot pulled Frimpong and fellow full-back Milos Kerkez for Wataru Endo and Andrew Robertson, and an Antoine Semenyo-inspired Bournemouth capitalised on those changes to remarkably draw level.
The Reds ultimately survived that second-half scare thanks to Federico Chiesa and Mohamed Salah's efforts, but Slot's substitutions were heavily criticised, especially in Frimpong's case as the Dutchman did not replace his compatriot with a natural right-back.
However, speaking to reporters at full time, Slot confirmed that Frimpong had to come off owing to a sore hamstring, and he was not prepared to leave him on the pitch while Conor Bradley (hamstring) is still out of contention.
Slot confirms Frimpong injury concern after Liverpool win
Liverpool's Jeremie Frimpong pictured on August 15, 2025
"It wasn’t out of luxury. Jeremie Frimpong felt his hamstring at half-time and made a lot of sprints," Slot replied when asked about Frimpong's early substitution.
"He was doing quite well, but our other full-back, Conor Bradley, is already injured with a hamstring injury, so you don’t to take the risk of losing another full-back."
Slot introduced defensive midfielder Endo for Frimpong in spite of the presence of Joe Gomez, who had only just recovered from an Achilles problem but came onto the pitch just 12 minutes after Frimpong was withdrawn.
However, the Liverpool boss insisted that the England international could not have completed more than 30 minutes, and had he been introduced for Frimpong, that mark would have been exceeded when factoring injury time into the equation.
"You could argue, why don’t you play Joe Gomez there, but he only had two sessions in pre-season and could only play half an hour, so we started with Wataru Endo and our left full-back Milos Kerkez," Slot added.
Liverpool issue statement after alleged racism towards Antoine Semenyo
Bournemouth's Antoine Semenyo pictured on August 15, 2025
While Liverpool's late surge should have made the headlines, the game was overshadowed by an alleged racist comment from the crowd directed at Bournemouth attacker Semenyo, who made referee Anthony Taylor aware of the purported incident in the first half.
Play was stopped for a few minutes as the official spoke with both managers and both captains, and Liverpool confirmed after the match that the matter was being investigated by the police.
"Liverpool Football Club is aware of an allegation of racist abuse made during our Premier League game against AFC Bournemouth," a club statement read.
"We condemn racism and discrimination in all forms, it has no place in society or football. The club is unable to comment further as tonight’s alleged incident is the subject of an ongoing police investigation, which we will support fully."
Liverpool now have nearly a week and a half to recover from their opening-day exploits before travelling to Newcastle United for their first away game of the season on August 25.
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