Jeremie Frimpong hopes to bind his relocation from Bayer Leverkusen to Liverpool shortly after the end of the Bundesliga season and before he goes to international service
Jeremie Frimpong is the flying Dutchman who does not speak Dutch.
Frimpong is the replacement of Trent Alexander-Arnold in Liverpool after the Premier League champions agreed to meet the £ 30 million clause in his Bayer Leverkusen contract.
He is expected to complete the move to join fellow countrymen Arne Slot, Virgil van Dijk, Cody Gakpo and Ryan Gravenberch in the coming days after Bayer ended their Bundesliga campaign against Mainz.
Slot wants to add more pace to his team after they have seen them to contain an energetic Paris St Germain side in the Champions League – and Frimpong fits the bill. But the Liverpool manager will have to communicate with his new signing in English.
Frimpong was born in Amsterdam from Ghanaian parents, but moved to Manchester with his mother and brothers and sisters at the age of seven after being divorced. That led him to lose his Dutch language skills.
Frimpong, who chose to sign for Manchester City instead of Liverpool when he was a promising school boy player because the club's training field was only removed from the club, Koos Holland above Ghana when he was first selected for the land of his birth by Louis van Gaal for the World Cup 2022.
Van Gaal and the rest of the team of Holland were stunned when the full-back reported that he was unable to speak Dutch. Frimpong has picked up a few important words in the last three years, but still prefers communicating in English.
The player did not make his debut until Van Gaal was replaced by Ronald Koeman after the tournament in Qatar. Frimpong remembered: “Louis van Gaal told me that I had to be patient, but that I would definitely make it.
“I remember that I was announced on the training field in Bayer Leverkusen and I heard that the Dutch team had been announced for the World Cup in Qatar. I got back in the dressing room at Leverkusen and I saw that my phone had exploded with messages.
“I was invited to become a member of the WhatsApp group of the national team. Louis had added a video to announce all the names of the players he wanted in the Dutch team for the World Cup.
“I didn't play in Qatar, but Louis said:” Your time will come, please be patient. “When Ronald came in Koeman, he made it clear that he had completely faithful to me as a player.”
Slot will now have a replacement for Real Madrid-bound Alexander-Arnold before the English defender has left Anfield. Speed ​​has always been a big factor in the feature philosophy of the Liverpool manager.
During his time as a coach of Feyenoord, lock revealed: “I love players who can change direction and let things happen. You can't have enough of it.”
Frimpong's trip to Anfield started in Manchester when he attracted the attention of scouts from different clubs – including City and Liverpool.
He explained: “There were many scouts, but Liverpool was my first choice. I wanted to sign there, but no one in my family was driving a car and Liverpool was far away. Manchester City was much closer, so that was much more logical.”
Frimpong was highly regarded at Etihad, but failed to appear a first team before he came to Celtic in a deal worth only £ 300,000 in 2019. He won the Scottish Interior Treble in his first season in Glasgow before he was signed by Leverkusen in January 2021 for £ 1.5 million.
The defender was part of the team that won the German Double under Xabi Alonso last season and was at Slot's Radar since it became clear that Alexander-Arnold would not sign a new contract.
Slot saw Frimpong produce a sensational version in a quarter -final collision of Nations League for Holland against Spain in Rotterdam in March when he gave Chelsea's Marc Cucurella a scorching time with his attacking runs to the right.
Frimpong is planning to take a short vacation before reporting for international duty for the world cup qualifications against Finland and Malta next month – but expects to be a Liverpool player before he leaves.