One of the biggest questions for Arne Slot at Liverpool is just what to do with Trent Alexander-Arnold.
The right-back has been one of the standout players during the Jurgen Klopp era, but has now reached something of a crossroads.
Obviously, the most pressing thing with Alexander-Arnold is getting his contract sorted out. With Real Madrid supposedly watching on with interest, Trent is about to enter the last 12 months of his deal.
Presuming he does put pen to paper on an extension though, the academy graduate needs some clarity over his role in the Liverpool squad.
Over the past year and a bit, Alexander-Arnold has been playing as a ‘hybrid’ full-back. However, he’s previously spoken of his desire to play permanently in midfield. As Slot ponders this question, Man United legend Wayne Rooney has offered his opinion.
Wayne Rooney makes Trent Alexander-Arnold midfield point
Although he hasn’t always been a favourite of Gareth Southgate, it’s nice to see that Alexander-Arnold has made the England squad for Euro 2024.
When Southgate has used the Scouser recently, it has often been as an out-and-out midfielder. That looks set to continue this summer.
However, according to Rooney, that simply does not suit Trent. Speaking on The Overlap, the 38-year-old claimed that he’d ‘100 per cent’ pick United’s Kobbie Mainoo over Liverpool’s No.66.
“I have watched Trent play there a few times in midfield and I think you lose a lot of his qualities,” says Rooney. “I think his delivery is incredible. Of course, he picks passes from midfield but I think he has to fight it out. I know Kyle is the best right-back in the world at the minute but I think midfield is such an important position. I would play Mainoo before Trent in midfield, 100 per cent.”
Tiresomely, Rooney also suggested that Alexander-Arnold is not defensively cut out to play consistently in midfield.
“It’s not that he’s not good in there,” continues the Plymouth Argyle manager. “You see it against Everton the other week. Some of his passes he is hitting are incredible and it’s probably only Becks [David Beckham] who hits them similar to him.
“But to play in midfield, that discipline you need from a defensive point of view, especially when you come up against the bigger teams. I think he will get found out a bit.”
Alexander-Arnold unable to win
This is an almost unbelievable point from Rooney. So, let’s get this straight. Alexander-Arnold is not defensively good enough to play right-back, but can’t play in midfield for the same reason.
The fallacy that Trent cannot defend has to be one of the most infuriating things in football.
The 25-year-old is not Virgil van Dijk when it comes to the art of defending, but he’s hardly terrible, either.
You don’t play the games he has and won the trophies he’s collected by being a poor defender. Up until a year ago, Alexander-Arnold featured exclusively in defence for Liverpool.
If he were so bad, there’s simply no way he’d have stayed in such a good side for so long.
So, to Rooney, we ask this: Where do you want Alexander-Arnold to play? If not a right-back, not in midfield, then where?