Replace From Within
So, how do you replace Trent? How about with absolutely nobody…
The worst-kept secret in football was finally confirmed this week. Attention and talk have turned to who will replace Trent Alexander-Arnold at right-back. Social media is awash with Bayer Leverkusen’s Jeremie Frimpong being the ideal replacement. His €35m release clause is a no-brainer, right? Well, let’s take a look and see where we end up.
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Frimpong May Be Frim-wrong
Dutch international Jeremie Frimpong is a right-wing back. Liverpool can bring him in and turn him into a deeper sitting right back. I’m pretty sure that will not be the ideal scenario for him, though. If we let him push on, he’s then taking up the spaces Mohamed Salah prefers to occupy. Can you see where I’m going with this? The club hands Mo a new two-year deal just to have a wing-back getting in his way?
The reason Mo and Trent worked so well was that Trent drifted into the middle more often than not. He’d swing balls in from deep-lying positions. I think Frimpong is a fantastic player. But if we do sign him, we are basically writing Conor Bradley off. I just don’t think Liverpool is ready to do such a thing.
A Deceptive Record
People have the niggling doubt over Conor Bradley’s injury record. He’s had two thigh injuries, and the other major one was an impact injury. I learned a very interesting thing recently. Liverpool has key data on all academy players. This data has the projected age players will stop growing. Bradley’s projected age is 22, which is quite late. For instance, that is the same as Steven Gerrard, who picked up several groin injuries in his early career. This could be an explanation as to why he keeps picking up these frequent injuries. The demands in first-team training on a still-developing body are immense.
You also have to remember that Bradley played 53 games when on loan at Bolton in League One, which is a very demanding league. He was more than capable of getting through it.
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But it isn’t just Bradley that people are wary of. It seems nobody has even thought of Joe Gomez staying on. Gomez and Bradley have spotty injury records, but this season, Liverpool has also used Curtis Jones and Jarell Quansah at right back with varying levels of success.
Staying Within Budget
Is Liverpool going to blow a big hole in the transfer budget and sign someone when we have a contender to Trent’s throne in Bradley and three possible back-ups as things stand? I don’t think a splashy replacement is going to be a priority signing. Unless we’ve scouted a complete unknown who’ll be brought in for 10-15m, on low wages, they’ll be 18-22 years old and given the incentive that they are going to compete with Bradley as backup initially.
It may not be a popular view/opinion, but based on the FSG model, I think people may need to wrap their heads around this one early. We have other areas that need more attention, especially when squad players in the forward line move on.
Liverpool genuinely have a potential world-class fullback on their hands, and they either go all in on him now or potentially ruin his progress and momentum with a big-money signing to compete with him. If you make that signing for €35m, more often than not, you have to play them to justify paying the money. I’m all in on Bradley.
Feel free to leave your thoughts and comments.