Flying Dutchman Frimpong: Obsession with anime & tight bond with Gravenberch

Liverpool fans will have spent the last couple of days poring over Jeremie Frimpong highlight reels and absorbing every ounce of information about the flying Dutchman.

He has emerged as a serious option for the Reds this summer and, as Lewis Steele reported on Tuesday, is very keen on a move to Anfield.

The Bayer Leverkusen star ticks a hell of a lot of boxes - homegrown status, affordable release clause (£29million), entering his prime and close friends with Liverpool's Dutch clique.

Losing Trent Alexander-Arnold has already severely weakened the Premier League champions ahead of next season - so the void Frimpong and Conor Bradley could combine to fill is a significant one.

So how has Frimpong's career made it this to this point, what do the stats reveal (they might surprise you) and what makes him tick away from the pitch?

Here, we take a deep dive into everything Frimpong for a full view of the man who could become Liverpool's first signing of a huge summer.

DESTINED FOR THE TOP?

Strangely, Frimpong could already have worn Liverpool red as a youngster. Scouted when tearing it up for AFC Clayton and Clayton Villa in Manchester, he bagged a hat-trick in a cup final as a striker and caught the eye.

But in the end it was geography that proved to be the deciding factor. Frimpong previously told Rising Ballers: 'I actually chose Liverpool first. I was going to sign for them, but back then, driving wasn’t a thing.

'My family wasn’t driving and it was far. Man City was local, so it made more sense. It was 15 minutes on the bus.'

At 18, he took the leap of moving to Celtic and almost bottled it, asking the driver to turn around midway through the journey before his brother calmed him down.

His ambition was justified, that season, they won a treble and he has credited the impact Neil Lennon had on boosting his confidence. Celtic paid £300,000 for him but would make a tidy profit on the sum just two years later.

After just over half a century of games for the Hoops, Frimpong moved to Leverkusen for £11.5m - even though Lennon had tried to persuade him to stay, saying: 'I wouldn't say he was unhappy. Ambitious maybe, or he wanted to try something else to progress his career.

'The club received a really robust offer and we felt it was good business. He made it clear to me and to the board that he wanted to leave.'

It didn't take long for Frimpong to ingratiate himself. He played 34 games in his first full season, delivering six assists for the German side. It was a sign of things to come.

He backed it up with eight goals and seven assists in the following campaign - numbers any attacking player would be satisfied with.

Then came Leverkusen's incredible campaign under Xabi Alonso - an invincible Bundesliga title and German Cup win.

Frimpong was the constant menace on the right flank - scoring 14 times and setting up 12 goals to play an integral part in the success.

His numbers have been slightly down this year, albeit still respectable, mirroring Leverkusen perhaps reverting to norm. But there's no doubt in just three years at the club that he's emerged as one of the world's best wing-backs.

Now he has his sights set on a return to England as the first part of Arne Slot's revolution.

A WORTHY ALEXANDER-ARNOLD REPLACEMENT?

Alexander-Arnold is a unicorn in football terms. He's redefined the right-back position and Liverpool will be aware that looking for a like-for-like replacement is a fool's game.

Frimpong is not going to replicate the incredible technical ability on the ball or chance creation of the man leaving for Real Madrid.

But he does offer a different threat. The first major attribute to hang your hat on is speed. It's not a trait Liverpool have in abundance and Frimpong is rapid.

He clocked 36.34km/ph this season, ranking him seventh quickest in the Bundesliga. And his acceleration is blistering, with an ability to create separation quickly before assessing his options.

In a Liverpool team frequently facing compact defences, they'll need new ways to open the door without Alexander-Arnold picking the lock.

One major risk that the Liverpool number crunchers will be sweating over is how Frimpong will fare as more of an orthodox right back.

Under Alonso, this season he has played 89 percent of matches in the right midfield area, starting as a wing-back but pushing high up the pitch.

Another six percent of the time he's in attacking midfield positions and four percent as a standard wing-back in his own half.

'He's an attacking threat but can't defend', is the concern being bandied around online, so it it true?

His tackle success, according to WhoScored, is 71.7 percent, miles clear of Alexander-Arnold's 56.3 percent.

He makes fewer tackles per 90 minutes on average but that could be explained by his positioning way up the pitch, meaning lower numbers of defensive duels.

The other defensive stats are not impressive across the board. Third centile for interceptions and blocks and first centile for clearances.

Frimpong has been left out of Dutch squads before based on his perceived defensive shortcomings, raised by Ronald Koeman as a reason for exclusion.

But he has worked hard to improve, using a private coach for extra sessions.

How much of this is Frimpong's inability to do the basics? It seems more likely that he's simply not often in those positions often enough at the back, with Bayer dominating possession and requiring him to be an attacking outlet. But that's a risk Liverpool will have to weigh up.

Alexander-Arnold's cross success rate of 26 percent is higher than Frimpong's (19) and the Englishman also boasts almost double the number of key passes (two per game).

Frimpong's numbers as a dribbler, however, are greater, rating in the 98th percentile for progressive carries. He is a runner, not a passer.

Stylistically, it would be fascinating to see how Slot would change Liverpool's approach and whether Frimpong's busy wide play would eat into Mo Salah's space on the right, or allow the Egyptian to drift more centrally.

ANIME AND FIFA OBSESSED - DOES HE FIT THE CULTURE?

Frimpong has come into his own as a character in the last couple of years, at least in public. He seems constantly upbeat, smiling and the life and soul of the party.

After Leverkusen's title win, he was brilliant value in the post-game interview with Archie Rhind-Tutt, resting an arm on his shoulder and drenched in beer.

The reporter recently spoke about it to The Anfield Wrap, saying: 'We're waiting for our presenter Kay Murray to come to us and he just starts leaning on me, and I'm like, what...

'I looked at him and thought, "what are you doing", And he shouts down the camera, "Any chance TV!?" and he reeked of beer but he was delighted. My main thought on this is that I know the Trent Alexander-Arnold topic right now is a sore one but look at that like a painful ex.

'But hey, if Jeremie Frimpong is the guy coming around the corner, you will forget about him very, very quickly. I've not even mentioned what he's like as a footballer, but for me that feels like a sideshow to the person he is.'

Liverpool fans first had a sniff that Frimpong might be an option when a clip emerged of him greeting Ryan Gravenberch on international duty by putting on a Liverpudlian accent and saying: 'Alright lad!'

He's close with the Liverpool midfielder, previously telling the interviewer: 'I tried the piece of skill today because yesterday I was watching Gravenberch at Liverpool do it so I thought, "let me try that". If Ryan keeps doing it then I'll do it.'

Frimpong is gregarious and full of confidence but it doesn't stray into arrogance and he describes himself as a family man, with three brothers and three sisters. He has been in a relationship with girlfriend Tamira Blankson since last spring and occasionally shares pictures of them together on Instagram.

He's an Anime obsessive - a fixation that started with Dragon Ball Z when he was younger and is regularly seen wearing T-shirts referencing various characters from the Japanese cartoons.

He even named his dog Akamaru, the pet of an anime character called Kiba Inuzuka.

Frimpong isn't quick to anger but revealed the only time he is really hacked off is when playing FIFA.

'Mobile phones, doors, controllers – I've broken lots of things,' he told the Leverkusen website.

'Oh my God. When I'm behind and the opponent is just playing around at the back then I lose it. If he then writes after the game: "That was unlucky for you" – arghhh. Then I have to switch off the console and let my head drop. That helps me.'

Liverpool are always diligent with their personality checks before signing a players - desperate not to disrupt the carefully constructed eco-system of their dressing room and they'll be well aware of Frimpong's popularity with team-mates.

They adopt a similar policy to the All Blacks of 'no d***heads' and would no doubt have been impressed by Frimpong's philanthropic efforts.

He shares pictures of work with children in Ghana, one of the nations he was eligible for along with England and Holland.

And last year he launched a charitable foundation called Pathways, designed to help players ruthlessly let go by clubs as youngsters and finding themselves lost in the world.

He told ESPN: 'There comes a day when you are told that being a professional footballer doesn't work out.

'Your dream is destroyed. You feel vulnerable. Depressed. Totally depressed. I think it's important then that there are people who help you. You are just a child. You shouldn't have to do that alone either. That's why I started this project. I want to help the youth as much as I can.

'I know what it's like to be told you won't become a professional footballer. I have plenty of people around me to whom this has happened. To be told that as a child is the worst thing there is,' Frimpong said.

'I feel clubs abandon you after that. They don't help you. As a kid, it's too much to go through that alone. I know you have a family, but sometimes that's not enough.'