For all Trent Alexander-Arnold’s vaulted ambition, there was always a danger that leaving Liverpool for Real Madrid could have a counterparty.
The 26-year-old said last year that he hoped to be “the biggest right back to play football” and the first player in his position to win the Ballon d’Or. Aspirations are not much higher than that, and when Alexander-Arnold mentioned his Anfield career last season, it was clear that he saw a move to Madrid as the best way to cherish his dreams.
Three months later it seems that he might have made a terrible miscalculation.
The La Liga debut of Alexander-Arnold earlier this month against Osasuna took barely an hour before he took place for the recurring Dani Carvajal, who then housed his place back in the starting line-up for the subsequent trip to Real Oviedo. Now the English International has also been dropped by Thomas Tuchel, who has left him out of his team for the upcoming world cup qualifications against Andorra and Serbia.
Was Trent Alexander-Arnold right to leave Liverpool?
It is of course too early to judge the wisdom or otherwise of the Alexander-Arnold movement. Only time will learn or his decision to leave Liverpool was the right one. What we can say is that his talent is just as unmistakable as the allure of the Bernabéu, a stage on which few are mentioned – and that deteriorate less. Yet it would not have taken a fortune teller to see the current perilous situation of Alexander-Arnold coming.
Carvajal, a serial winner at Madrid whose distinctions four competition titles and six Champions League winner’s medals, would never give up in the first XI without a fight, even at the age of 33. As the leader of the Spanish national team and a Madrid’s institute, he could order the respect in institute.
‘Not so much emphasis on the defensive discipline and effort’
As far as Tuchel is concerned, he is only the newest observer who expressed reservations about the defensive work of the full-back.
“I can see that he is sometimes highly dependent on his attacking contributions and not so much emphasizing the defensive discipline and effort,” the German said in May. “This big impact he had for Liverpool for so many years … If he wants to have this impact in the English national team, he must take the defensive part whole, very seriously.”
In addition to the debate about the defensive competence of Alexander-Arnold, it was interesting here the alley of Tuchel on its impact on Liverpool, and the implication that the full-back was unable to replicate at an international level. His words reminded of a similar controversial step from Anfield to La Liga: namely Philippe Coutinho’s £ 142 million switch from Liverpool to Barcelona in 2018.
An educational comparison
Although the circumstances of the two transfers did not differ in the least because Alexander-Arnold, in contrast to the Brazilian, ran his contract instead of agitating for a movement of the comparison in terms of impact nevertheless instructive.
In Liverpool, both players benefited from the willingness of Jürgen Klopp to meet the unique nature of their talents. Both formed tactical riddles that Klopp was willing to resolve for the greater good. In the case of Coutinho, that meant adjusting his preference system to a NR. 10 to house; With Alexander-Arnold it was a trade-off between creativity and defensive steel.
But those conditions would never be replicated in Spain. Coutinho was not a natural stylistic fit for a Barcelona side that was already blessed with a magical playmaker in Lionel Messi, while Alexander-Arnold handles the defensive instincts of Carvajal, leadership skills and handle. That does not mean that his stay in the Spanish capital will unfold along comparable lines such as Coutinho’s time in Catalonia – but it is also not a precedent that must be ignored.
Alexander-Arnold left Liverpool to challenge himself; The size of the test that lies in front of us can be greater than he had ever thought.
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