Jeremie Frimpong credits extra sessions with manager Neil Lennon for his promising start to life at Celtic.
The full-back, 18, marked his Scottish Premiership debut with an assist in Saturday’s 6-0 win over Ross County.
“Me and Neil, sometimes we work on my crosses because when I first came I would get there but my end product wouldn’t be that great,” he said.
“So we’d stay behind and he’d give me some balls and I’d just whip them in so I think that’s a real improvement now.”
The summer signing from Manchester City made his first appearance in a League Cup victory against Partick Thistle last month and has vowed to continue grafting for more first-team opportunities.
“I’m going to keep working hard, keep making the fans proud, my team-mates proud and the manager proud,” said the Dutch teenager. “That’s all I want to do. The fans are great and they’re really great to me.”
He went on to identify Dani Alves as his idol, with the Brazil captain comfortably the most decorated player in the history of the game.
“I’ve always looked at how he plays,” said Frimpong of the 36-year-old former Barcelona and Juventus star. “He’s been the best right-back in the world. He likes attacking and defending as well.”
Racism would ‘just motivate me more’
The defender spoke about his experience of racism in football and insisted he would not walk off the pitch if he encountered it again.
He said: “In the past when I was younger I did get some of that. I went away with Man City – to Italy – and the fans were being racist.
“It’s come back a bit. The England game v Bulgaria, things like that – what’s the point? It kills the mood, the game of football, it just kills it. I wouldn’t walk off the pitch, no. I would just ignore them and then at the end of the game talk to them and ask ‘why did you do that?’.
“I’ll still play and I’ll play so hard to get a goal. It would just motivate me more. And when we win, I’ll love that.”
BBC
