Trent Alexander-Arnold has remained grounded by Jamie Carragher’s claim that the Liverpool right-back could play in a more advanced attacking midfield role like Manchester City star Kevin De Bruyne.
Carragher has told talkSPORT that he could imagine seeing the 21-year-old playing in that role based on the creativity he has shown from the full-back position and even claimed that he is “probably better than what Liverpool have in those players”.
Alexander-Arnold is happy to continue playing at right-back for now though but admits that it is something that could happen in the future if that is what manager Jurgen Klopp wants to do.
“That’s his point of view and maybe one day it will happen,” the England international said, as quoted by the Mirror.
“But for the time being, the manager has obviously decided I’m a right-back and that is where I will play.”
OPINION
Alexander-Arnold has shown a lot of creativity from the right-back position, but that is mainly due to how good his crossing ability is rather than his ability to pick out killer passes and through balls. According to stats by WhoScored, Manchester United’s Ashley Young [3.3] and Diego Rico [2.2] the only full-backs to average more crosses per game in the league than Alexander-Arnold [2.1] so far this season while De Bruyne has also managed to average 2.3 from his more central attacking role. Alexander-Arnold could play that role in the future and Sky Sports pundit Carragher might be onto something, but for now, he is surely better off playing at right-back. The England international is widely seen as one of the best full-backs in the world – if not the best right-back. Why would you play the best right-back in the world out of position? There is more to Alexander-Arnold’s game than his crossing ability and creativity in the final third.
