Jeremie Frimpong has quickly proven himself to be a valuable addition to Liverpool. However, the former Leverkusen player now has to take a forced break, which is giving Arne Slot cause for concern.
Arne Slot couldn’t resist a little dig at Thursday’s press conference. “I think I was criticized for substituting him, wasn’t I?” he said about Jeremie Frimpong. The Liverpool coach took the full-back off in the 60th minute despite an impressive performance in the successful league opener against Bournemouth (4-2). “It had nothing to do with his performance, but we felt he had a problem with his thigh – and by ‘we’ I mean the medical staff. It was a good decision to take him off.”
As it has since emerged, the problems are more serious than initially thought. The right-back, who moved to Anfield Road from Leverkusen for €40 million in the summer, will be unavailable until the international break. He will therefore miss his team’s matches at Newcastle United next Monday and against Arsenal (August 31).
According to Slot, Frimpong should be back in action on September 14 at Burnley FC. The winger has quickly settled in at Liverpool, scoring his first competitive goal in the Community Shield match (2-3 on penalties against Crystal Palace).
The only injured players are right-back
It is bitter for Slot that Frimpong of all players has been hit. After all, his rival Conor Bradley is also unfit, although the 22-year-old was at least able to train for a few minutes on Thursday after a long injury break.
“At the moment, we only have two injured players, but unfortunately they are both in the same position. The good thing is that we have other players who can play there,” said the Dutchman. He named Wataru Endo, who also came on for Frimpong at the weekend, Dominik Szoboszlai and Joe Gomez as alternatives.
