Alan Shearer has major 'concern' about Jeremie Frimpong after $40M Liverpool transfer

Alan Shearer raised a concern over Arne Slot's usage of Jeremie Frimpong after the Dutch wide man lined up on the right wing for Liverpool against Galatasaray.

Mohamed Salah was named among the substitutes in Istanbul, with the summer signing from Bayer Leverkusen taking the Egyptian's place in attack.

Frimpong is no stranger to playing in a more advanced role, having mainly figured as a wing-back for Leverkusen, while also making most of his appearances for Netherlands as a right winger. But Shearer believes Slot's decision to play Frimpong there against Galatasaray, while persisting with Dominik Szoboszlai at right-back, suggested a lack of faith in the Dutchman's defensive ability.

"Liverpool has spent heavily on Frimpong and it would be a concern that Slot doesn't seem to rely on him," Shearer said while speaking on co-commentary duty for Amazon Prime.

"He is playing him (Frimpong) in a different position and playing a midfielder at right-back, and Szoboszlai has probably been the best in that [right-back] role [for Liverpool so far this season]. There is no doubt that would be a concern.

"Slot is still trying to work out and find a balance to get to the level of last season because Liverpool barely gave anything away. It was really tight but this season has been anything but.

"Liverpool paid a lot of money for Frimpong and has a really good young player in Bradley but is playing Szoboszlai. That tells me Slot isn't comfortable."

Ahead of the game, Slot explained his decision to rest Salah — a decision which opened up the possibility for Frimpong to play in a more attacking role.

“We have many games to play in a few days, there's another big game to play coming up,” Slot explained. “We have to utilize our squad, and utilizing doesn't always mean from the start, players can come in as well.

“Many of our games, players have impacted the game coming from the bench.”

Prior to the game in Turkey, Salah had played 90 minutes in each of Liverpool's games so far this season apart from last week's League Cup win over Southampton at Anfield, which he was entirely rested for.

Next up for Liverpool is a trip to Chelsea at the weekend, before many of the players head off on international duty.

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