Liverpool Gearing Up to Announce Frimpong, Kerkez & Wirtz | OneFootball

Long-term Liverpool supporters will know only too well the number of times that we’ve lost our best players to other clubs in Europe’s big leagues. From Fernando Torres going to Chelsea and Raheem Sterling leaving for Manchester City through to Luis Suarez departing for Barcelona, there was a time when we had to get used to the sense of Liverpool not being a destination club.

Now the table seems to have turned, with the imminent departure of Trent Alexander-Arnold to Real Madrid unlikely to even be a bump in the road as the Reds get ready to announce at least two new signings.

What the Deal is With Frimpong

A player that boasts incredible pace, Jérémie Frimpong is 24-years-old and grew up in Amsterdam. A Dutch national, the fact that he spent his youth career with Manchester City means that he will count as a homegrown player for Liverpool. During his career, he has played as a right-back for Celtic and a right-wing back and right-winger for Bayer Leverkusen, so he is someone that will be able to fill in pretty much anywhere down the righthand side for the Reds. He is obviously being seen as a Trent Alexander-Arnold replacement, but may also be used by Arne Slot to fill in for Mo Salah when the Egyptian departs for AFCON.

Boasting a £30 million release clause, it is clear that Frimpong is Liverpool’s primary target to play at right-back, almost certainly alternating with Conor Bradley depending on the opposition. It has looked like a done deal for some time, with the Reds seemingly just waiting until the end of the season before announcing it publicly. The rumours are that he’s flying in for a medical on Sunday, which will also mean that he’ll be on Merseyside for the match against Crystal Palace, in which his fellow Dutchman Virgil van Dijk will lift the Premier League trophy in front of a packed-out Anfield.

Kerkez Move Heating Up

AFC Bournemouth, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

If you’ve been following social media, then you will know all about Milos Kerkez, seemingly happy to flirt openly with Liverpool over the past few weeks. With Andy Robertson getting on in years and Kostas Tsimikas not considered to be at the level required for the Reds, there has been a sense that the left-back slot needed to be strengthened this summer. Kerkez was signed by Richard Hughes, Liverpool’s Sporting Director, when he was fulfilling that role for Bournemouth, so the Scot knows both the player and the club well and evidently has a solid enough relationship to get the deal done.

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Although both Real Madrid and Manchester City have also shown interest in the 21-year-old, it looks certain that the Reds will be able to get the deal done once the season reaches its climax on Sunday. David Ornstein, a journalist for The Athletic, has said that the Hungarian has made it clear that Anfield is his preferred destination, with the only thing that needs to happen now being a deal between the two clubs. There’s a suggestion that a fee of around £45 million will be required to get the deal done, but Liverpool have none of the Profit & Sustainability Issues that other clubs do, so that’s unlikely to be a problem.

Why the Fuss Over Florian Wirtz

Whilst we’re on the transfer train, it is all but impossible to look up information about Liverpool in the transfer market right now and not see the name ‘Florian Wirtz’ linked with the club. That is because the Reds appear to have made a move for the attacking midfielder in the wake of the news that his current club, Bayer Leverkusen, would rather not sell to Bayern Munich if it’s possible to avoid doing so. The German clubs have not seen a player move from the BayArena to the Allianz since Lúcio moved there in 2004. In other words, the Reds have got a definite chance.

There are reports that the player’s father, who is also his agent, was distinctly unimpressed with what Bayern manager Vincent Kompany had to say about his plans for the player but was blown away by what Arne Slot had to say. He is one of the most exciting young players on the planet right now, with Liverpool likely to build the team around him if he were to arrive on Merseyside. Given the fact that Mo Salah is almost certainly going to depart Anfield in a year or two, Wirtz might well fancy the idea of becoming the next global superstar to line up in Red and win silverware for the club.