The 25-year-old may have little experience of operating centrally, but he has the requisite skills to thrive in the role
What’s this? Is Gareth Southgate about to go out swinging? England’s famously amiable manager has already shown his ruthless streak ahead of Euro 2024 by ditching popular players such as Jack Grealish and Marcus Rashford. Now, it seems he’s ready, willing and able to make some bold calls as he looks to belatedly bring an end to his country’s agonising 58-year title drought.
Having already taken a huge chance on Luke Shaw’s fitness, the latest reports coming out of the England camp suggest that Trent Alexander-Arnold will start Sunday’s Group C clash with Serbia in Gelsenkirchen – and not at right-back either, but in midfield.
It’s a daring decision, given the enormity of the occasion and the fact that the Liverpool ace has so little experience of playing centrally. However, it’s a risk well worth taking, an exciting gamble that could pay off spectacularly for Southgate in Germany.
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Failed first experiment
Southgate has had this idea in his head for an awful long time now. He first experimented with Alexander-Arnold’s position in a World Cup qualifier against Andorra all the way back in September 2021.
However, the initial results were hardly encouraging. “It was difficult to get on the ball for me,” Alexander-Arnold told talkSPORT. “I found it a lot more difficult to get on the ball in those tight spaces.”
He’s started just five more games in England’s midfield in the interim – and not once against top-class opposition. We’re also talking about a player who has played just 112 minutes of tournament football across two games – 79 of which came in the group-stage dead rubber against Belgium at the 2018 World Cup.
In that sense, it seems almost unfair of Southgate to ask Alexander-Arnold on the eve of a major tournament to go and run the game for England at Euro 2024. However, there are several reasons why this could work – and why Southgate needs it to work.
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‘So many benefits’
For starters, Alexander-Arnold no longer has any doubts over the change of role. On the contrary, he’s welcomed it. He has admitted himself that his performances at right-back for England were, by the lofty standards he had set himself, “mediocre”. At international level, he simply wasn’t afforded the same “freedom” to get forward and make use of the attacking arsenal at his disposal.
Consequently, he has welcomed the chance to move into midfield. “That’s something that really excites me and I feel will get the best out of me in the [England] set-up,” he said last October. “This is the most exciting time for me with England.”
Jurgen Klopp obviously played a key role in that regard by using Alexander-Arnold as an inverted full-back to great effect at the tail end of the 2022-23 campaign – and at regular intervals last season, allowing the Liverpudlian to grow ever more familiar with playing in midfield.
“There are so many benefits,” Klopp said last December on TNT Sports after watching Alexander-Arnold turn in decisive displays against Manchester City and Fulham in the Premier League. “As a team we were not ready in the past and Trent wasn’t ready. We thought last year in a bad moment for us that it was time to change something big and we did [against Arsenal], and it worked out.
“Trent enjoys it. I think he is quite happy with the position and how he can interpret it. I am very happy with him and how it’s going.”
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‘An eight or six eventually’
Of course, Klopp was reluctant to make the move into midfield permanent because he feared that by doing so, Liverpool would be depriving themselves of “the best offensive right-back in the world”. For the Reds, it just didn’t make sense at the time. They still needed Alexander-Arnold in his original position, at least occasionally.
Unlike Liverpool, though, England have long had a plethora of top-class right-backs to choose from – which is why Southgate first started toying with the idea of playing Alexander-Arnold in midfield.
It’s also worth noting that Klopp always said that “Trent will play as an eight or a six eventually. It will happen.” And the time is now, as far as Southgate is concerned.
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Best option alongside Rice
There are obviously other strong contenders to start alongside Declan Rice at Euro 2024. Adam Wharton has impressed all and sundry with his composure on the ball since going from the Championship to the Euros in the space of six months thanks to his impressive performances for Crystal Palace, while Kobbie Mainoo was the revelation of Manchester United’s season, with the 19-year-old capping a brilliant breakout campaign with a goal in the FA Cup final win over Manchester City.
Chelsea’s Conor Gallagher also deserves the utmost credit for somehow managing to play well amid the chaos surrounding Stamford Bridge and constant transfer speculation over his future. The 24-year-old is a pressing monster and his tenacity could prove invaluable against top teams later in the tournament.
What England are most in need of going into the group stage, though, is an adventurous player capable of finding a way through deep-lying defences with precise and progressive passing. Alexander-Arnold unquestionably fits the bill. There is no better passer of the ball in Southgate’s squad, and given he’ll also undoubtedly have the freedom to drift right at times, his crossing could also prove invaluable to getting the ball in behind opposition backlines – or onto the head of Harry Kane.
‘Can do things nobody else can’
Obviously, there will be concerns. While Alexander-Arnold’s attributes make him incredibly suited the play-making role, he is still relatively new to the position, which is arguably the most important in any side. Questions have also been repeatedly raised over his defensive strengths and spatial awareness.
“I’ve said in the past, if Trent plays right-back you’ve got to score two goals because he gives one away,” former Liverpool striker Dean Saunders told talkSPORT. However, even the former Reds forward has no doubts about Alexander-Arnold in midfield, not least because of the protection he’ll be given by Rice as the No.6, which should allow the Champions League winner to go and do what he does best.
“You know when the ball comes to him, he’s whipping a cross around people, he’s hitting a diagonal, he’s chopping it into feet,” he enthused. “I think he’s England’s most creative player. [He’s so good] he could even play for Real Madrid in midfield.
“So, I think the combination of [Jude] Bellingham, Rice and Trent is perfect. Trent can do things nobody else can do.”
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‘No questions in my head he can do it’
Most importantly of all, Southgate is also of the opinion that there is a world-class midfielder in Alexander-Arnold just waiting to break out.
“I’ve got no questions in my head he can do it,” the manager declared. “It’s just learning some nuances of the role. But the fact he’s been playing partly in there [for Liverpool] with the ball, albeit a bit deeper, has helped his transition.”
As a midfielder, Alexander-Arnold is obviously far from the finished article and asking him run the show against Serbia is undeniably an awful lot to ask. At the end of the day, though, he’s easily one of England’s best players – leaving him on the bench would represent a dreadful waste of his tremendous talent.
As Joe Cole previously argued on TNT Sport, it’s well worth implementing “a system focused on getting Trent into positions where he can affect the game – because midfield brings the best out of the great qualities he’s got.”
If the rumours are to be believed, Southgate will give Alexander-Arnold the chance to show off his special set of skills from the start on Sunday. The pressure on both men will be immense, the stakes could hardly be higher. But don’t bet against Alexander-Arnold finally proving himself central to England’s hopes of ending their trophy drought.
