On Monday night, Liverpool vice-captain Trent Alexander-Arnold logged his second consecutive start for England in a Euro 2024 qualifying dead-rubber away to North Macedonia. Both of those starts came in midfield, with Alexander-Arnold serving as the right-sided number eight in his player-of-the-match performance against Malta last week before dropping into a double pivot alongside Declan Rice in Skopje.
The 25-year-old has now played as a permanent midfielder in four of his last five outings for his country, even as he continues to carry out a hybrid role at Anfield. But how would it look if Jürgen Klopp decided to follow Gareth Southgate’s lead?
Well, theoretically, Alexander-Arnold could also play as Liverpool’s right-sided eight, although that would require Dominik Szoboszlai moving over to the left to keep one of the season’s outstanding players in the team, and both Curtis Jones and Ryan Gravenberch sitting on the bench.
He could also feature as a lone six, as he did when he came off the bench against Bournemouth in the Carabao Cup, but he may be ill-equipped at this stage to carry out the off-ball responsibilities of that role. A deep-lying midfield partnership with a more natural defender like Rice may work better, but one of the advanced eights would again have to be sacrificed.
Another complication is Liverpool’s lack of another specialist senior right-back ready to play the position in Alexander-Arnold’s stead. The club would likely have to enter the market, but encouragingly, it has already identified a potential solution, according to a report from Peruvian outlet Depor.
The Reds, alongside Premier League competitors Chelsea, have apparently decided to ‘enter the bidding’ for Bayer Leverkusen’s Jeremie Frimpong, picking him out as a ‘priority’ ahead of next season. Real Madrid is interested too, and not just because of the quality of the player. Xabi Alonso, who has steered Leverkusen to the top of the Bundesliga in one of the most impressive managerial feats of the season so far, has been earmarked as the 2024 successor to Carlo Ancelotti, but has apparently demanded that Real swiftly reunite him with Frimpong as a condition of employment.
However, Real president Florentino Pérez is said to be reluctant to pay more than $38m (£31m/€35m), and it seems extremely unlikely that Leverkusen will accept that fee for a standout 22-year-old player who only recently signed a new five-year contract. That could present Liverpool and Chelsea with a chance.
Frimpong, formerly of Manchester City’s youth set-up and the Celtic senior side, has produced a truly incredible output from a wing-back role so far this season, scoring five times and providing seven assists in 16 games across all competitions. Only two players in the Bundesliga, and four in Europe’s big five leagues as a whole, have set up more league goals than the Dutchman’s five.
A big feature of his game is the frequency with which he drives forward with the ball, utilizing his supreme pace and dribbling ability. Clocked at just under 36km/h, the fifth-fastest top speed in the Bundesliga this season, he sits second in the league for progressive carries (27) and successful take-ons (85) and leads the way outright for carries into the penalty area.
It’s worth emphasizing just how aggressive his positioning is as part of Alonso’s set-up. Mirrored by Alex Grimaldo on the other flank, Frimpong is second only to teammate Victor Boniface in the entire Bundesliga for touches in the opposite penalty area with 72, which, remarkably, is exactly nine times as many touches as he’s recorded in his own box.
The natural question here is whether he could still thrive in a back four at Anfield, but we should remember just how much attacking license Alexander-Arnold was granted when he played as a pure right-back. He was, for the most part, operating like a traditional right midfielder.
While Frimpong isn’t regarded as the best defender, Liverpool was still able to win the biggest prizes with a right-back who wasn’t especially gifted in this department. Much like Alexander-Arnold, he could be a strong net positive overall. “He has a very big impact on our game,” Alonso said last year (via GGFN). “He is a very good player, but for me is even a special player.”
Liverpool has already seen how difficult it is to beat Real Madrid in a transfer battle, having lost out on Aurélien Tchouaméni and then allowed Los Blancos a free run at Jude Bellingham, but it can submit a much bigger offer than Pérez this time, then perhaps it could inflict a double blow, denying Real not just a player, but a manager too.
