Trent Alexander-Arnold has managed to get the whole nation talking about him, following a string of impressive performances in a new position for England, leading to Jamie Carragher sharing his thoughts on the Scouser.
Speaking on BBC Radio 5 Live, the Bootle-born pundit said: “I think it just opens up another discussion in terms of how it affects his Liverpool position. He‘s always played a hybrid role of full-back and central midfield and he has excelled in central midfield.
“It’s just whether he stays there now because when you look at him as a player, the one weakness he has at times can be one-on-one defending and switching off at the back post. If he plays in midfield he doesn’t have to come into those sorts of situations where he gets exposed.
“I don’t think it’ll be something for Liverpool next season. Maybe in the future because I don’t think Jurgen Klopp will totally change his whole transfer plans this summer. I think Trent will continue in the hybrid role. Maybe at times play in midfield, maybe stay at full-back. But going forward he will eventually play in midfield.”
You’d be hard pressed at the moment to find anyone who’s against the idea of our No.66 not being given a chance in the Liverpool midfield, following his impressive performances for his nation.
However, our former defender here seems to suggest that he doesn’t expect Jurgen Klopp to deploy the academy graduate in a more advanced position – yet.
There have been calls for many years for the the West Derby-born pass master to be played in his boyhood position and our boss seemed to cave in some ways, by deploying him in an inverted full-back role.
The way in which the performance level increased in the final ten games of the campaign, it makes it hard to think that our manager can’t be at least thinking of playing him more advanced again.
Let’s see if the Sky Sports man is correct though and that we may see Trent in midfield a few times next season, ahead of a full-time shift in position some years down the line.
For now though, the whole world is talking so positively about the childhood Red and if he isn’t played in his new role next season – then we can only expect criticism to come the way of Klopp if performances aren’t at his current exceptional level.
#Ep76 of The Empire of the Kop Podcast: Liverpool Transfer Committee Show!