Trent Alexander-Arnold has opened up about his experience with the Liverpool first team so far and promises to always be ready for his chances. Alex has been described by Klopp as ‘an outstanding talent’ said that he is enjoying the challenge of establishing himself for his childhood club and that he is excited about his involvement with the first team so far.
As quoted by the Echo,
“Every day I’m getting more comfortable around the first team and they’re really helpful in that way, they’re always telling us to be ourselves and try and enjoy it as much as we can – and that’s what all of us youngsters try to do. I suppose at the start I was quite shy and timid, but that’s what you’d expect from a young lad coming through.”
He went on to add, “The quicker you can settle in and be confident around them, the better, because once you’re confident around them then you can be confident when you’re training and playing, and that’s when you get the best out of yourself, I think.”
“You can never rest and think ‘my part’s done now for the season’, you’ve always got to be ready for that call-up,” he said.
“I had to be ready for that Man United game and you’ve just got to be ready for that moment because it can come whenever. Even if you don’t expect it, you’ve got to always have it in the back of your mind that you might be called upon to make a performance and make an impact on the game. Even though we’re out of the cup competitions, we’ve still got to be ready to play.” he added.
The 18-year old was called up for the first-team action when he was named on the bench for the game against Arsenal on the opening day of the season. He was a part of Liverpool’s pre-season tour and made his debut against Tottenham on 25 October 2016, when he started the game at his favoured right-back position. However, he was substituted in the 68th minute for Nathaniel Clyne as Arnold was booked earlier in the first half. He got his second start for Liverpool in the next round of the EFL cup against Leeds United which Liverpool won 2-0 and he registered his first ever assist of his Liverpool career when he set up Divock Origi for the opening goal of the game.
After his debut game, he was praised by Graeme Souness, who stated that the player has all the attributes to be a top player. He has made 8 appearances for Liverpool so far and was even tipped for greatness by former Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard, who in his autobiography, mentioned about the youngster.
Alexander-Arnold has always been rated highly in Liverpool academy and has represented England at all youth levels from U-16 to U-19. He has also captained Liverpool at U-16 and U-18 levels and is believed by many to achieve greatness.
He has established himself as the team’s back-up right back for first choice Nathaniel Clyne and things can only get better for Alex if he keeps his focus and works hard as always.
It looks like Liverpool have unearthed a gem from their esteemed academy.
