JUST IN: World-class defender wants to join Liverpool and replace Trent Alexander-Arnold
While the announcement won’t come as much of a shock to the club’s supporters, with reports suggesting the England international is set to join Real Madrid, there’ll no doubt be a pang of sadness as one of their own prepares to move on.
The exit of a local boy, who has been at Liverpool since the age of six and was handed the vice-captaincy last season, will leave a bad taste for some, with any frustration exacerbated by the fact he’s a world-class talent who has attributes no other player in his position in the game does.
Alexander-Arnold has 23 goals and a whopping 86 assists in 352 games for his boyhood club. He impacts games from right-back in a way no other player does, with a passing range scarcely seen before from a full-back.
How can Liverpool replace him? They arguably can’t, but we’ve looked at some possible solutions.
One of the first big names to be linked with stepping into Alexander-Arnold’s boots was Bayer Leverkusen’s Jeremie Frimpong. The short-but-speedy Dutchman has been sensational for Xabi Alonso’s side in the last two seasons and is among the most productive right-backs in world football.
Well, we say “right-back”.
In Alonso’s three-at-the-back system, Frimpong plays as a wing-back, which involves far more wing than back, as you can see from his heat map below.
The 24-year-old’s runs down the right side open up so many opportunities for Leverkusen, and he has been a vital part of the team that sensationally won the Bundesliga and DFB-Pokal double last season, and challenged FC Bayern Munich in the league again this term before Harry Kane and co sealed the title at the weekend. In all competitions, Frimpong has 37 goal involvements across the last two seasons (18 goals, 19 assists).
However, while it might be true that Frimpong hasn’t played as a right-back under Alonso, he largely did so during his time at Celtic and at Leverkusen prior to the Spaniard’s arrival in the Bundesliga. The below heat map is from the 2021/22 season and shows that Frimpong’s touches were far more akin to an orthodox right-back in Gerardo Seoane’s system.
He recorded six assists in the Bundesliga in 2021/22, the same number as Alexander-Arnold in the Premier League this season, and averaged 1.3 open-play chances created per 90, just shy of Alexander-Arnold’s 1.4. But he did play the role very differently.
When comparing Frimpong’s 2021/22 league campaign with Alexander-Arnold’s 2024/25 efforts, we can see the Leverkusen man attempted more dribbles and had a lot more success in ground duels, but had significantly less involvement in passing and defensive actions.
Another option could be Porto’s Martim Fernandes, viewed as one of the most exciting young talents in the Primeira Liga. Reports in December suggested Liverpool were tracking Fernandes’ development as a potential option in the event Alexander-Arnold departed.
The 19-year-old, who is very comfortable on the ball and always looking to spring attacks, has five assists in the league in 2024/25, with Francisco Moura (nine) the only Porto player with more.
He has created the most big chances per 90 – a chance from which the attacking team would usually be expected to score – of any defender in Europe’s top-10 leagues this season with 0.97 (minimum 10 games played).