The biggest downside to Liverpool signing Jeremie Frimpong

Liverpool have waved their tearful goodbyes to homegrown superstar right back Trent Alexander-Arnold, who is ready for the next chapter in his illustrious career as Dani Carvajal’s new platoon partner at Real Madrid.

Now, Michael Edwards, Arne Slot, and the decision-makers at Liverpool have the task of replacing the England international this summer, and the main candidate they are focusing on is Slot’s Dutch countryman Jeremie Frimpong, who starts for the Netherlands and 2023/24 Bundesliga champions Bayer Leverkusen.

In his latest update, transfer insider Fabrizio Romano reported that Liverpool are “well-informed” regarding Frimpong’s transfer situation and his 35-40 million euro release clause this summer. The 24-year-old is said to be one of the Reds top options at right back to replace Alexander-Arnold.

Where there is smoke, there is fire, and other reports have indicated that Frimpong would be highly interested in moving to Anfield as the next step in his own promising career.

At this point, Frimpong looks like the top replacement for Alexander-Arnold because of his years of credibility in the Bundesliga, status as a former league champion, and his overall attacking excellence in the explosive Slot offense.

Conor Bradley not getting chances would be sad

But if there is one major downside that stands out about signing Frimpong, it is a reason other than his defensive question marks or the fact that his most recent season was a pretty poor one by the standards of a starter for a league title contender.

It’s the fact that signing Frimpong means that Conor Bradley still won’t get many chances. Bradley is a 21-year-old prospect who has faithfully backed up Alexander-Arnold and even options better suited for the center back position.

His one big opportunity came against, of all teams, Liverpool’s chief Champions League nemesis Real Madrid in the UCL. And going up against the incredibly talented Kylian Mbappe, Bradley more than held his own; in fact, he completely shut Mbappe out of the game and embarrassed the French superstar in a 2-0 trouncing of the Merengues.

Although Bradley could get some starts with Frimpong in the picture, he won’t be starting over a 24-year-old entering the prime of his career and coming off multiple solid seasons at the top level with Leverkusen as a nearly 40 million euro transfer investment.

So it would be back to square one for Bradley, who, himself, could be a future star for Liverpool and part of the next generation of the Reds at right back. Bradley, in that game against Mbappe, showed he has the two-way upside that it takes to being a starting-caliber player for a team like Liverpool.

If Frimpong comes in, we may never know how good Bradley truly is, or, at least, that knowledge will be delayed further by a good player, albeit one significantly more expensive in wages and transfer fees than it would be to simply stand pat with Bradley.

Of course this is too far to project into the future, but imagine how tough it would be for Liverpool to see Bradley shining for some other Premier League club if he ends up leaving because he can’t break in through Frimpong.