Arne Slot confirms Liverpool have their Mo Salah replacement after completing transfer

Liverpool head coach Arne Slot has revealed there are numerous reasons why the Reds signed Jeremie Frimpong - and one of them is to replace Mohamed Salah during Africa Cup of Nations.

The Reds landed Jeremie Frimpong for £29m from Bayer Leverkusen after the departure of right-back Trent Alexander-Arnold. Many believe the Dutch utility man is to challenge Conor Bradley for the full-back role but Slot believes he has more versatility.

That will help when Egypt star Salah heads to Morocco for the Africa Cup of Nations which runs from December 21 to January 18 and could see him miss up to six Premier League games. Slot said: “We definitely thought about that and brought in Jeremie Frimpong because he can play as a right-back but also as a right winger.

"We thought about how we can miss Mo for a maximum six games, that’s quite a lot. Signing Jeremie Frimpong was for multiple reasons but one was that he could replace Mo if he was not there.”

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Liverpool have spent big this summer with almost £300m gone on transfers but £150m brought in on sales. Yet it was teenage sensation Rio Ngumoha who starred in pre-season and there’s excitement building if he can play a role in the first-team ahead of this weekend’s Community Shield.

“You never know how an individual handles the situation,” added Slot. “A year ago, Trey Nyoni scored a goal against Sevilla when he was also 17, very young.

“They have an incredible chance to work and be around players like Virgil van Dijk, Mo Salah and all these incredible players every day and see what they do to be ready to perform every three days.

“This is a step these players definitely have to make, which is completely normal at 16 or 17. It is already nice if they can play well once a week at a good level.

“We try to develop them in the best way we can but also have to develop them because new players that are 24, 23, 22 have already experienced the intensity levels are quite high either during training or during the games, let alone for players who are 16 and coming through the academy.

“We are aware of that but it’s been a promising start for him and Trey Nyoni because Trey also played a very good game at Anfield four days ago.”

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