Talk of Jonjoe Kenny coming to Celtic on loan offers me a way to provide context on Frimpong & why I believe the seemingly near universal opinion that 11.5 million was "good business" may be wrong. Kenny is in his age 24 season (turns in March). Transfermkt has his "value" 10.45.

Obviously, that "value" isn't all that reliable, but he is at Everton and was on loan to a Bundesliga side (Schalke) last season.

Here are some stats comparing the two via "aged" seasons. This can be done within the context of aging & development curves. Frimong is this season.

Kenny didn't play any senior minutes of consequence at age 20, so showing his age 21 at Everton and then last season age 23 at Schalke. Obviously, standard of opponents differ greatly between the leagues, so to me this is an exercise to get a sense of what kind of player each is.

Frimpong's progressive run output is elite. How elite? In his age 19 season, out of 426,591 players in all senior competitions tracked globally by Wyscout, he was #1 with a 7.64 avg. The next highest was 7.19, so he wasn't just the highest but even an outlier within that context!

The efficiency of Frimong defensively has been "fine" if not spectacular. His crossing has been woeful and that is where Kenny stands out- his data suggests he may be a good crosser. I haven't shown overall passing data, but they are fairly similar with exception of crossing.

But look at touches in the box, xA and those ball progression stats relative to runs and dribbles.

I am not familiar with Leverkusen's playing style, but as Kenny's data suggests, whipping in accurate crosses does not necessarily translate into scoring opportunities, as his

key pass and xA suggest. Some more progressive analytics-focused clubs are playing their fullbacks more narrow and in the half space/channels rather than out wide, which also helps with defensive structure relative to counter pressing.

So Kenny looks to be a decent player

and I suspect we may see some pretty looking crosses that don't result in much in the way of chances being created if he is signed on loan.

Frimpong? If his final 3rd decision making improves, & crosses are not a prerequisite if played more narrow, 11.5 may have been a steal.