The Liverpool right back’s preferred position is set to be in midfield, but will Trent Alexander-Arnold ever make the transition further forward?
Liverpool – Manchester United; it’s one of the most anticipated games in world football. A fierce clash which moulds the best players and births legends. Even at academy level the contests are ferocious and brutal.
It was an especially intense tie on a foggy wet pitch at Carrington on 3rd October 2015. The Manchester United side lined up with Marcus Rashford in their ranks and as the current leaders of the U18 Premier League. They had the home advantage too.
Often during tough times like this, when they were against the odds, Liverpool’s senior side would turn towards their midfield maestro, captain fantastic; Steven Gerrard.
There were of course no Steven Gerrard lining up for Liverpool U18s on that cold autumn day four years ago, but the young reds did have a Trent Alexander-Arnold.
The fresh-faced 17-year-old was the U18 side’s captain and it was him who the rest of his teammates looked for in search of inspiration.
Alexander-Arnold did not fail to deliver.
Wearing the number 7 on his back, Trent ran around the wet pitch with ferocious intensity, making solid slide tackles and leading the young reds’ charge up the field.
Alexander-Arnold did not play in by what is now his favoured right back role, but further up the field as a central midfielder.
Emulating Gerrard in the fashion the reds’ legendary midfielder so often did, the Liverpool U18 captain scored twice by running into the box from midfield and unleashing a fearsome finish into the back of the net.
His brace helped Liverpool to an impressive 4-0 victory in their old rival’s home ground and Alexander-Arnold took much of the headlines.
Trent finished the season with 27 games for Liverpool’s youth side scoring 7 times and handing out 6 assists. Playing mostly as a central-midfielder Alexander-Arnold was arguably the stand-out performer from the side with his clever reading of the game, incredible energy and his excellent football striking technique.
It had been less than a year since Gerrard left the club, but it seemed Liverpool had already found a new central midfielder to fill the Anfield legend’s boots.
Arriving just days after Alexander-Arnold’s man of the match performance against United, Jurgen Klopp of course had other ideas.
A year later, Klopp would hand Alexander-Arnold his senior debut against Tottenham in the EFL Cup not as a central midfielder but as a right back.
Alexander-Arnold impressed that night and hasn’t looked back since. The current England international has made the right back position his own, and has undoubtedly become one of the best right backs in world football.
His generational talent, vision, skill and mastery over the football has taken Alexander-Arnold from playing against hundreds at Carrington to orchestrating an incredible victory against Barcelona and lifting the Champions League title in front of tens of thousands of people and the whole world watching.
Ever since Alexander-Arnold has made his debut, there have always been the talk of when or if ever the England international will make the step-up from right back to his more favoured central midfield role.
More recently none other than Jamie Carragher has compared the number 66 to Kevin De Bruyne on TalkSport and backed Alexander-Arnold to excel in the midfield position.
Klopp, himself, played Alexander-Arnold as a midfielder on Sunday afternoon in the 2-1 victory over Spurs after subbing Joe Gomez on for Mo Salah for the last five or so minutes in the game. And Liverpool’s number 66 did not look out-of-place.
Yet, at just 21 years of age, there is no rush to move Alexander-Arnold further up the field. Liverpool have a healthy set of midfield options with the likes of Oxlade-Chamberlain and Naby Keita providing strong backs up for Wijnaldum, Henderson and Milner.
There is no doubting Alexander-Arnold talent, the young scouser grew up idolising Gerrard and models his game on the Liverpool legend which is vastly evident in his style of play from his technique to his dynamism. As Carragher said it himself Alexander-Arnold would have no problem playing in the midfield role.
Gerrard himself begun his early Liverpool career playing often in the right back position before making his mark further up the field, as did Carragher before establishing himself as a central defender. The right-back role can be a springboard for progression at Anfield.
Alexander-Arnold however faces a major obstacle. Having established himself as one of the best right backs in world football, there are very few replacements if none at all who could fill the scouser’s shoes at right back.
The full backs play a crucial part in the way Klopp’s has built his Liverpool team. Alexander-Arnold and Andy Robertson often lead the attack and are the architects of Liverpool’s goals. Having provided an impressive 29 assists between them in all competitions last season, it is difficult to see anyone else coming in to the side and replicating the same results and style.
There may be better defensive right back options in world football, but there are none who can deliver balls into the box and unleash key defence splitting passes like Alexander-Arnold. The right back currently leads the charts in key passes across Europe’s top five leagues with 37 ahead of Kevin De Bruyne.
It because of his excellent performances at right back why Jurgen Klopp will not deploy Alexander-Arnold as a central midfielder on a regular basis any time soon and why Trent must bide his time and wait to make the transition.
Of course there is hope, Ki-jana Hoever from the Reds’ academy has shown promising signs whilst featuring for Liverpool’s first team and he might be an adequate replacement for Alexander-Arnold in a few years time if he is able to polish his offensive game.
For now however, Alexander-Arnold as a right back will have to do.