Liverpool full-back Trent-Alexander Arnold has inked a new and improved five-year contract, just 8 months after he signed a new deal with the club.
The 18-year old academy graduate is held in very high regards by our manager Jurgen Klopp and in the past season, he emerged as a genuine competition for our first-choice right-back Nathaniel Clyne. Only in November last year, Arnold signed a new five-year extension. But, having been impressed with his displays for the first team over the last year, the club has signed him to another much-improved deal that sees him extend his stay until June 2022.
Arnold made his debut for us in October last year, in an EFL Cup tie against Tottenham Hotspur and went on to make 12 appearances for the senior team in the 2016/17 season and registered one assist. He played on 12 occasions for our U-23s, in which he found the back of the net on 4 occasions. The youngster’s performance against our bitter-most rivals Manchester United earlier in January this year was easily one of his best displays. The 18-year old was rewarded with the club’s Young Player of the Year award.
An attacking full-back by nature, Arnold offers a great threat with his forward forays and as seen by his performances for the reserves, he can chip in with goals too.
The youngster has shown all the right intent and ambition so far in his fledgling career and harbours hopes of captaining the club one day.
“I want to play for Liverpool for my whole career and one day hopefully I’ll captain the side,” he had said in an exclusive interview with Liverpool Echo earlier this year.”
“Until I have finally reached being captain and I’m playing week in, week out, I’ll never be satisfied.”
✍ Trent Alexander-Arnold has today signed a new long-term deal with #LFC.
Full story: https://t.co/COvI7LGO65 pic.twitter.com/2ZR8rtK8Lz
— Liverpool FC (@LFC) July 7, 2017
Klopp too has shown tremendous faith in the talented youngster over the last year and has backed him to succeed in the senior team.
“Trent sets the tone for everything he does with his attitude and character,” the Reds’ boss told Liverpool’s official website.
“He commits to everything he does: he wants to learn, he wants to grow, he wants to develop and his focus is absolutely in the right place.”
Arnold became our fifth player to pen a new deal, following the contract extensions of Joe Gomez, Philippe Coutinho, Dejan Lovren and Adam Lallana.
The 18-year too, was very pleased with the new contract, but knows that the hard work just begins from here on, if he is to fulfill his lofty ambitions. He was quoted by Liverpool’s official website as saying:
“It’s exciting, a proud moment for me and my family. I’m excited for the good times ahead, hopefully.”
“You can never be satisfied with where you are. There is always room for improvement. It’s not a good thing if you ever are satisfied in football, you’ve always got to strive for better. Maybe you can dwell on achievements for a little bit but you can’t dwell on them for weeks or months. You’ve got to get back to the hard work.”
“That’s what I’ll do straight away – I’ll get back into training, I’ll work hard and I’ll try to fight for a place in the team.”
While it is difficult to predict the trajectory of a player in the dawn of his career, the England U-19 international has displayed great qualities already and we are excited to see how he develops over the next season with the senior team.
Good luck Trent!
