According to Goal, new Netherlands head coach Xavi Hernandez has excluded 25-year-old right-back Jeremie Frimpong from the Dutch squad for the UEFA Nations League match against Serbia. The information was confirmed in the official squad list submitted by the Royal Netherlands Football Association to UEFA.

Frimpong also missed the 1-1 draw with Germany. Although the right-back was included in the Netherlands squad for that match, he remained on the bench for the entire 90 minutes. For the Serbia match, he was not even listed in the 23-man squad.

For Frimpong, this exclusion marks another bitter low point in a professional crisis spanning roughly a year. In 2024, he won both the Bundesliga and DFB-Pokal with Bayer Leverkusen. In the summer of 2025, Liverpool signed the pace-focused right-back, paying the German club €40 million.

Under Liverpool manager Arne Slot, Frimpong arrived at Anfield as a player Slot specifically wanted to bring in, and initially appeared to have a secure spot on the right flank in the club's four-man defensive line. However, persistent leg injuries derailed his progress. He missed 10 of his first 16 Premier League matches through injury. As a result, before the winter break, he had made just 11 appearances in 27 official matches, contributing 1 goal and 1 assist.

After the New Year and recovering from injury, Frimpong eventually began playing more regularly, but he has rarely impressed. In Slot's four-man defensive system, his defensive weaknesses became apparent; at Leverkusen, he had played as a right wingback in a three-man defense. Even when pushing forward in attack, he has failed to make the expected impact, ending the season with just 2 goals and 2 assists in 35 appearances.

In October, shortly before Frimpong was sidelined with a long-term leg injury, former Liverpool player Don Hutchison commented on his form: "I've watched every Liverpool match I can. In some of those matches, like the Southampton game [a 2-1 League Cup win in late September, editor's note], he just keeps losing the ball. Simple passes are going astray, and his confidence is being eroded."

At that point, Hutchison advised Liverpool manager Slot to drop the Dutch player and seek alternatives. He said: "I would play Conor Bradley without question. The way Frimpong is playing, he doesn't even deserve a starting spot."

Last summer, Frimpong's poor form at Liverpool also cost him a place in the Netherlands' World Cup squad. At the tournament held in the United States, Canada, and Mexico, Arsenal's Jurrien Timber and Inter Milan's Denzel Dumfries earned the trust of then-manager Ronald Koeman.

Even at club level, Frimpong's situation has failed to improve. At the start of the season, Liverpool's new manager Andoni Iraola still regarded him as the priority at right-back, but now Araujo, a new signing who is a natural center-back, is being preferred.

Statistics support Iraola's choice. In the 4 matches Frimpong started, Liverpool conceded 6 goals; in the 3 matches Araujo started, Liverpool kept a clean sheet. Former England international Danny Murphy has also recently criticized this situation.

Danny Murphy stated on talkSport that, aside from Frimpong, Liverpool left-back Miloš Kerkez is also "not good enough" and does not meet Liverpool's standards. He said: "They won't be able to improve; they don't have those qualities. They work hard, but their crossing quality and decision-making in the final third are poor."

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