Frimpong claim about Celtic worth more than £17m return as incoming Liverpool star's payback to old club is priceless

Frimpong once raved about the Hoops' pathway for young players and it could pay off to the tune of millions
Jeremie Frimpong revealed his plan to follow Virgil van Dijk 's path back in 2019 – and he's set to live that dream more literally than he imagined.
The flying Bayer Leverkusen wing-back looks set to join Premier League champions Liverpool in a £30m deal this summer with reports he's already undergone a medical at Anfield.
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Due to a substantial sell-on clause in the £11.5m deal that took him to Germany back in January 2021, Celtic will bank a further £6.5m – taking their total earned on Frimpong to £17m. That's a scarcely believable turnaround on a player they paid around £300,000 to sign from Manchester City in 2019.
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As he gets set to join one of the biggest clubs in the world, every word he's ever said about his future is being scrutinised and an interview from October 2019, just over a month after he joined Celtic, has resurfaced.
And the way he talked up the Hoops and their proven pathway for young players back then might just be worth future millions to the club.
He was asked about potentially following Virgil van Dijk's trajectory – a man whose career he will have mirrored almost exactly if and when he does join him at Liverpool.
Speaking back before he'd even broken into the Celtic team, an 18-year-old Frimpong said: 'I'd 100 percent like to do what Virgil has done. There is a pathway at Celtic, you get chances here to do that.
"The Dutch national team play a lot of young players, like Matthijs de Ligt, who are really good. They are building another great team and it would be exciting to be a part of that."
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The raving quotes have come back to the surface amid reports from Fabrizio Romano and others that he's undergone a medical ahead of his long-awaited return to the Premier League.
Boss Arne Slot was far from ruling it out when asked about the reports today but he kept his cards close to his chest.
Asked if he had in fact undergone medical testing, he bluntly replied: "What do you think? I think what we all know is the moment we announce it, that is the moment to talk about it in general.
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"We haven't announced anything so no need to talk about anyone."
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Because they already have players of the same profile and there is a school of thought that if Wirtz excels in England, there is plenty of time for his next stop to be Spain. Should Liverpool add more Premier League titles or the Champions League by then, Wirtz's valuation will exceed £116 million. Regardless of the size of the fee, Liverpool believe they will reap the profits of their investment on and off the pitch for at least the next five years. Against opponents who sit deep, this may be the more familiar set-up, with Wirtz behind the front three without compromising the energy and pressing capacities required from midfield. The personnel may differ ahead of Wirtz – especially if Liverpool sign a new number 9 and if Szoboszlai takes up a new deeper role – but the principle of Wirtz as supplier and workaholic ball-gatherer remains. This is the tried and trusted formation which won Liverpool the Premier League. In this case, Wirtz is more like a 'false nine' reminiscent of Firmino, triggering the high press out of possession, while adding creativity and goal threat when Liverpool dominate the ball. It seems unlikely this is Slot's ultimate vision as Wirtz is seen as a prolific creator more than goalscorer and his talent will be better served providing assists to someone playing in front of him. Here, Wirtz switches with Díaz (or a new No 9 if Liverpool sign one) playing from the left, but regularly drifting inside to more often than not occupy the number 10 zone rather than play as a wide man per se. It's a slight tweak which would demand more of whoever is playing left-back (with the signing of Bournemouth's Milos Kerkez having just been agreed). More overlaps will be required to provide width on the left. Not the 4-4-2 of English tradition, and as much a 4-2-4 in possession, but this is a variation of the formula Slot used when comfortably beating City at the Etihad on the way to the title. In that case, Curtis Jones and Szoboszlai operated as a 'double 10' meaning the City centre-backs had no central striker to pick-up, and Liverpool's midfield runners controlled the game while helping to pack defence. It's not likely to be the preferred choice of Slot – Liverpool had less than 34 per cent possession against City playing this way – but again Wirtz's multi-functionality makes it an option.