Trent Alexander-Arnold had always looked irreplaceable. The remarkable passing range and pinpoint crossing that made him unique meant no successor would ever be a duplicate. But if Jeremie Frimpong has proved Anfield’s answer to the Real Madrid Alexander-Arnold, it has been in an unwanted respect. Frimpong’s injury-interrupted time at Liverpool mirrors Alexander-Arnold’s stop-start beginning to life at the Bernabeu.
The Netherlands international is poised to return against West Ham on Saturday. A man who barely missed a game for Bayer Leverkusen has had three hamstring injuries in England. Proof the physicality of the league can be tough to adjust to, Arne Slot has often said.
