Jeremie Frimpong has already prepared Premier League surprise for Gary Neville | OneFootball

Liverpool were willing to accept Trent Alexander-Arnold’s shortcomings in order to take advantage of his world-class ability on the ball.

Make no mistake: criticism of his defensive capabilities was almost certainly overblown.

Of course, that hardly stopped the likes of Gary Neville and his fellow pundits from lambasting our vice-captain over the years.

With Jeremie Frimpong, another unorthodox fullback, set to grace the Premier League, one might reasonably expect he’ll become the ex-Manchester United man’s next target.

Jeremie Frimpong is readying himself for the Premier League

(Photo by Richard Pelham/Getty Images)

The 24-year-old already has one significant advantage under his belt ahead of his anticipated move to English football. Bundesliga football is deemed to be the most comparable to the physical demands of the Premier League.

This should, theoretically, be of some benefit to Frimpong ahead of his upcoming transfer to Liverpool.

However, the former Celtic star has already made clear efforts at self-improvement, which should also stand him in good stead in England.

Ben Jacobs reports on X (formerly Twitter) that the right wing-back has been working with private coaches on his one-v-one defending.

What has Gary Neville said about Trent’s defending?

To be fair to Neville, he’s been far from alone in going for Alexander-Arnold over the quality of his defending.

Though it would be unfair to suggest the Sky Sports pundit has been anything other than a prominent spokesperson for the anti-Trent brigade.

“All I’ve said in the last two or three years, maybe four years, is for him to get a little bit more serious about his defending,” the Englishman said back in 2023.

Gary Neville went on to add: “What he does have to be is not a liability. There have been times in the last three or four years where that has been a standout feature in Liverpool’s big games, where he’s been too easy to beat and too easy to get at.”

The pundit did caveat his commentary with an acknowledgement of our No.66’s prowess on the ball.

But this is hardly the only instance where the 26-year-old’s defensive capabilities have been isolated.

How does Frimpong compare defensively?

It’s a little unfair to compare two players who have performed fundamentally different functions.

Jeremie Frimpong is considerably more likely to venture further afield into the opponent’s 18-yard box, where he can utilise his remarkable dribbling and one-on-one skills.

Trent Alexander-Arnold, by contrast, can impact the final third from a range of deeper positions by virtue of his unreal passing range and vision.

The Dutchman’s considerably lower dribbled past rate (0.4 per game to Trent’s 1.7) is arguably more indicative of the fact that he spends more time in advanced positions.

Certainly, it doesn’t seem to remain consistent with his ground duel win percentage.

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