Gareth Southgate shared a joke on the England plane that spells bad news for Trent Alexander-Arnold, according to reports. The Liverpool star barely featured at the World Cup.
This comes from The Times. They claim that Gareth Southgate shared a joke with Kyle Walker as England flew back from the World Cup in Qatar.
The pair laughed at how they needed Kylian Mbappé as the Frenchman was the only way people would realise that Walker is actually the world’s best right-back. And has been for some time, apparently.
The fact that Walker kept him quiet was a demonstration of how good he is. Southgate appears to feel that way – and feels that he has the best right-back on the planet in his team.
Gareth Southgate and Trent Alexander-Arnold
As the article points out, Jurgen Klopp also believes that Southgate boasts the best right-back in the world. Only, the Liverpool boss says that as Trent Alexander-Arnold is in that squad.
Funnily enough, he made that claim after Southgate changed the Scouser’s position. He put him in midfield for a game, leading Klopp to ask, per Goal:
“Why would you make the best right-back in the world a midfielder? I struggle to understand how you can think that.”
And so this isn’t great news for Alexander-Arnold. Southgate not only doesn’t trust him at right-back but feels that the player in front of him is the world’s best.
Honestly, we think the joke is wide of the mark. Yes, England kept Mbappé quiet but they also put all of their attention on him – and lost. It was enough that Mbappé’s mother had a say:
“They focused on Kylian but the French team is not just Kylian. And they showed it,” she said, per Onze Mundial.
We’d also call Alexander-Arnold the best in the world, of course. He’s shown that over many years now, winning everything, setting records and picking up individual awards galore.
We’re confused about the way Southgate uses Alexander-Arnold, though. It doesn’t seem to make much sense and we wonder what he’s watching at Anfield when he’s there. Unfortunately, it appears nothing will change anytime soon.
Receive a digest of our best Liverpool content each week direct to your mailbox
