Jeremie Frimpong's arrival takes Liverpool one step closer to SPECIAL wonderkid | OneFootball

The current administration at Liverpool is in uncharted waters.

For the first time in almost a decade, a new full-back pairing will need to be signed in the transfer market and creating the perfect balance between attack and defend is going to be pivotal.

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While wing-backs existed back in 2017 when Jurgen Klopp decided who his flank players were going to be, the German was an adamant trailblazer for the defensive side of the role to take a slight back step, with counter-pressing and ball recoveries high up the pitch preferred instead.

This is not to say that Liverpool were open at the back, both Andy Robertson and Trent Alexander-Arnold were incredible runners, always sprinting back to help out the centre-backs when required to.

However, we are now eight years on from when the pair joined the first team, one from Hull City and the other from the academy, and both will need to be replaced in an incredibly precise operation.

Arne Slot's system is very different to Klopp's. The full-backs can create more from deeper roles, by playing long-balls into the forwards, but there are still aspects of the 'heavy-metal' approach present.

The potential signing of Jeremie Frimpong is a fascinating choice from the club and the consequences of having such a transfer target are likely to be wide-ranging, not least in terms of who the club decides to have on the other flank in order to compensate for him.

© IMAGO - Jorrel Hato Liverpool

If Frimpong joins, Jorrel Hato must be the new left-back

Back when Trent and Robertson were in their primes, the debate among Liverpool fans went like this - both are great in an attacking sense, but Robertson is the more complete of the two because he is more defensively aware and he is still capable of delivering in an attacking sense.

In my opinion, the same debate will rage on with the new pairing.

Frimpong is a fascinating choice for many reasons, but primarily because he is a right wing-back in Xabi Alonso's Bayer Leverkusen system. The former Red operates with a 3-4-2-1 system in play.

Specifically, this means that you have three centre-backs to allow the traditional full-backs to position themselves high up the pitch to play as wingers in a sense, which is where the term 'wing-back' comes from. The two midfielders will then be workhorse profiles and the two players above them are almost No.10s who create chances for the solo striker target-man.

As such, the wing-backs get an abundance of goal contributions and their defensive workload is particularly limited, although to say that they don't track back would be disingenuous.

With Frimpong, it's clear that he's a traditional wing-back. He has five goals and nine assists this season, which would put him just behind Mohamed Salah, Cody Gakpo, Luis Diaz, Dominik Szoboszlai and Alexis Mac Allister for goal contributions at Liverpool this season.

Defensively there are concerns, perhaps more so than when we look at Trent, so he would need to be moulded by Arne Slot to help perform a more complete role for us, which is fine because he's only 24 years old, but his overall defensive capability is over-analysed a little too much at times.

The overall package that Frimpong offers, combined with the skillset of Conor Bradley, means that the Reds will have some great options to use at right-back if a deal is reached.

However, the openness of Liverpool's right-flank going forward will have a direct impact on how the club decides to proceed with bringing a new left-back in and a move for Milos Kerkez might be off.

While the the Hungarian's profile is really impressive, it's plausible that we might be more inclined to bring someone in who is more defensively aware in the position, such as Jorrel Hato - a Dutch centre-back turned full-back, who is less prone to bombing it down the left-flank at will.

He is still very versatile and will attack when asked to - he himself has two goals and six assists to his name this season - but he could potentially be a safer pair of hands than Kerkez.

At 21 years old, Kerkez is his elder by two years, so the extra level of experience might prove to be the deciding factor, alongside the extensive links that we've had with the player.

But Anfield Watch likewise understands that Hato is firmly in the conversation, and he is believed by experts to have the qualities to become a 'world class' asset in the future.

Linking back to earlier, every Trent Alexander-Arnold needs an Andy Robertson to sure up the defence and counter-balance the defensive vulnerabilities. If Frimpong if the chosen one at right-back then, Hato would be the safest bet.

That isn't to say that Kerkez won't join, however, but it would be a bold choice.