Liverpool boss Arne Slot has guaranteed Bayer Leverkusen defender Jeremie Frimpong that he is ‘No.3 on the to-do list’ at Anfield, according to Sport Bild journalist Christian Falk.
The Reds are having an amazing season in the Premier League with Slot’s side leading second-placed Arsenal by 12 points at the summit of the division.
It would now take a monumental collapse from Liverpool to allow Arsenal back into the title race with only nine games remaining and having only lost one match all season.
Liverpool endured a nightmare few days last week as they crashed out of the Champions League to Paris Saint-Germain, while Newcastle United beat them 2-1 in the League Cup final on Sunday.
There have been other concerns in recent months too as the futures of Virgil van Dijk, Mohamed Salah and Trent Alexander-Arnold have still not been resolved with all three out of contract at the end of the season.
And Liverpool are already looking forward to the summer with the Reds potentially having to make a raft of new signings, depending on the outcome of the trio’s futures.
One player rumoured to be a top target if Alexander-Arnold leaves is Frimpong at Leverkusen, who won the Bundesliga title last season, and Sport Bild journalist Falk has confirmed that Slot has been ‘on the phone a lot last month’ to the Netherlands international.
Falk wrote in his Caught Offside column: ‘True✅: Jeremie Frimpong and Arne Slot were on the phone a lot last month. Both are Dutch, and Slot wanted to sign him in the summer. The Liverpool head coach had been telling the fullback he was still keen to get him.
‘However, he’s very upfront and honest, so Frimpong is aware that, at the moment, a striker and a defender are the main targets for Liverpool who aren’t going to get any fees in for Virgil van Dijk, Mo Salah or Trent Alexander-Arnold should all three leave at the end of their contracts this summer.
‘So, he knows that he’s No.3 on the to-do list for Arne Slot, but if the club can manage to sign both a striker and a defender – he will be the next target. His release clause is nearly €40m, so it’s a lot of money!’
Jamie Carragher reckons Liverpool boss Slot needs to bring in five or six players in the summer to keep up his brilliant start at Anfield.
Carragher said on The Overlap: “You can look at it two ways. You can say that it’s come back to bite them on the backside, with the Champions League and this cup final. But does that put Liverpool in the position that we are as well? Are the other squad players as good?
“I don’t think he has any time for four or five players in that squad, and the fact that he didn’t change players at home to Southampton between the PSG games – against one of the worst teams ever in the Premier League – I can accept that this season as this isn’t really his squad, but next season I’m sure he’ll bring players in. He’ll have to trust his squad more because he’ll need to get further in the Champions League, and he can’t accept a performance like that in a cup final.”
Carragher added:”I’m excited to see where Arne Slot will take Liverpool because it looks like they’re going to win the league, but there are still so many areas to improve. He needs a centre-back as back-up to the two that we have, he’ll need a right-back with Trent Alexander-Arnold likely to leave.
“I think he needs a centre midfielder to replace Endo, someone younger and that he trusts, a centre-forward to play and a left-winger. There are at least five or six players he needs to get in – three to go straight in the team and three to be strong back-ups.”