The Al-Hilal approach for Jeremie Frimpong, floated by intermediaries at the start of the week, has run into refusals at both ends of the proposed deal.
Liverpool have told intermediaries that the 25-year-old Dutch right-back is not available in January, and the suggestion that Al-Hilal were lining up a move for him has been dismissed as without substance, according to TEAMtalk.
The speculation surfaced earlier in the week, when it emerged that intermediaries had offered the Netherlands international to the Saudi Pro League side and that Frimpong himself would be receptive to a January departure.
That pitch, however, has not been met with matching enthusiasm in Riyadh. Sources close to the Saudi club told Kooora, via CaughtOffside, that Frimpong is not among their winter targets, with head coach Simone Inzaghi more focused on reinforcing in central defence and midfield.
Liverpool’s side is just as firm. With Frimpong’s contract running to 2030, the club is under no commercial pressure to listen, and head coach Andoni Iraola still sees him as part of his plans for the second half of the season, TEAMtalk reports. Iraola arrived at Anfield for the 2026-27 season as Arne Slot’s successor.
Why the rumour had legs
Part of the backdrop to the exit talk is the form of Ronald Araujo. The Uruguay international joined Liverpool on a season-long loan from Barcelona in August 2026 and quickly established himself as Iraola’s first-choice right-back, with Joe Gomez providing cover when Araujo moves inside.
Frimpong’s own absences have deepened the picture. He arrived from Bayer Leverkusen in the summer of 2025 for a reported fee of around £33.4m but has struggled for continuity, and his latest problem, a muscle injury, was picked up within minutes of coming on as a second-half substitute against Brentford in October.
Return targeted for after the break
Before the international window began, Iraola signalled that the Dutchman would not be fit in time to feature before it.
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“Jeremie is obviously a new muscle injury and it happened, I think, in the second or third minute he was playing, difficult to predict and we will have to wait until he recovers,” the head coach said in his pre-Villarreal press conference last month, as reported by CaughtOffside.
The earliest Iraola can have him back in a matchday squad is therefore after the current international break, which runs until the weekend of 21-22 November.
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