Former Liverpool favourite John Barnes has claimed that Trent Alexander-Arnold ‘does not have a future as a midfielder’ after Gareth Southgate trialled the 23-year-old in the new position during an England game last year.
The Reds No. 66 is recognised by many as the best right-back in the world and has a whopping 18 assists to his name so far this term (across all competitions).
Barnes believes Alexander-Arnold’s attacking strength is superior to his defensive ability but claims that doesn’t necessarily matter when playing for an attacking team like Liverpool.
“Trent Alexander-Arnold does not have a future as a midfielder. He is a right-back and that’s why he’s able to play facing forward,” Barnes said (as quoted by the Express).
“Trent may not be as good defensively as he is going forward, but he doesn’t always have to play teams of Manchester City’s quality. People can say he needs to work on things defensively, but most of the time, Liverpool are on the front foot.
“Liverpool will happily suffer that odd occasion where he plays against a top team like Manchester City. The balance of what he does in a season, versus that time when you come up against tough opposition like Real Madrid or Manchester City, means Liverpool should stomach that for the benefit of what he does in an attacking sense.”
Trent appears to have the ability to play anywhere on the pitch.
He can receive the ball with his back to goal, he can take players on and we all know about his wand of a right foot.
He performs consistently well from right-back and Jurgen Klopp has made it clear that he views the scouser in our team as a full-back.
In September last year, the former Borussia Dortmund boss questioned why Southgate wanted to use the ‘best right-back in the world’ as a midfielder.
Right-back is an area where we do need reinforcements, though.
Neco Williams is on-loan at Fulham and is performing well, but in yesterday’s game with Trent being rested on the bench, Joe Gomez deputised for him.
The former Charlton man performed well once again, but we all know that his best position is in the centre of defence.
We’ve seen Kostas Tsimikas come into the squad and provide real competition for Andy Robertson at left-back, the club may be looking for a similar acquisition at right-back.