Celtic pundit Lawrence Connolly has recently made a claim about whether Jeremie Frimpong can play as a right-back or not.
Connolly was a guest on the latest episode of the ‘A Celtic State of Mind’ podcast and the panel discussed multiple issues involving the Parkhead-based club. The panel talked about multiple Celtic players as well and one player that Connolly spoke about was Frimpong. He believes that the young Dutchman is usually too high up the pitch to play as a right-back.
The Hoops play Lille in the Europa League on Thursday. They had lost the previous game in the competition to AC Milan, who beat the Bhoys 3-1 at Parkhead. Sparta Praha are the other team in their Europa League group (as per Transfermarkt).
Do you think Frimpong has a future in the right-back position?
Yes
No
Connolly doesn’t believe that Frimpong should feature at right-back against Lille as he’s positioned too far away from the centre-backs. Frimpong is currently valued at £2.70m.
Connolly said: “Right-back, for me, it is just not Frimpong. I think we are developing him as a right-back. His distance from the centre-halves and the position he takes – he takes too high up the pitch for a right-back, perhaps for a right wing-back. He’s too high up the park and too far away from whoever the centre-half is. I don’t think [Lille] is a game for Frimpong.”
TIF Thoughts on Connolly’s comments about Celtic’s Jeremie Frimpong…
Frimpong has made 11 appearances in the Premiership this season and he has played once in the Europa League too. He’s played at right-back but he’s also featured on the right side of the midfield (as per WhoScored).
As a right-back, he has picked up a rating of 6.87 for the Bhoys. As a right midfielder, he has picked up a rating of 6.9. So there is clearly not too much of a difference in quality between his performances at right-back and on the right side of the midfield. So it will be interesting to see how Frimpong develops as a player in the future and whether he is selected on Thursday night.