Frimpong and Wirtz: Transferring a Potent Pair to Liverpool

Liverpool have signed two players who already worked well together. How good were Frimpong and Wirtz for Leverkusen? How will they work for the Reds?

Liverpool have done something this summer which they hadn’t for 11 years. They have signed multiple players from one club in a transfer window.

Kopites will hope Jeremie Frimpong and Florian Wirtz are rather more successful than the trio of Adam Lallana, Rickie Lambert and Dejan Lovren proved to be for Brendan Rodgers’ mis-firing Reds. The former and latter had their moments under Jürgen Klopp but the new boys need to deliver more, record signing Wirtz especially.

As inconsistent as the Saints’ trio were for Liverpool, they had linked up well the season before. Lovren even headed home a Lallana corner when Southampton won 1-0 at Anfield in September 2013, with the midfielder also linking up for five league goals with Lambert in 2013/14. Importing an existing relationship should bring benefits.

This statement stands a better chance of being true when a combination has been particularly potent. It appears the Reds are in luck.

Leverkusen had 13 pairings of players who linked up for at least nine chances across Bundesliga and Champions League matches this season. Sorting them by xG per shot ranks the link-ups between Frimpong and Wirtz as the fourth and fifth best, with one of those players present in seven of the nine other duos in the top 11.

Maybe their combination will grow even more powerful for Liverpool, notwithstanding Arne Slot may tweak how they are deployed tactically. The Reds boss had eight pairings generate at least 0.141 xG per shot across nine-plus chances in 2024/25, with seven of the duos topping the 0.160 that Wirtz to Frimpong offered. Putting very good players on a better team makes brighter sparks of creativity fly.

In theory, anyway. They may not play as closely together as they have in the past. It took until their 149th and final Leverkusen game together for Florian to assist Jeremie for a goal (see below), so don’t expect an immediate repeat for the Reds.

Nonetheless, Slot will be percolating ideas. He’s already seen how they can link up earlier in moves at Anfield.