Former England manager Sam Allardyce has hailed the ‘quality’ of Liverpool’s Trent Alexander-Arnold.
Trent has been the talk of the town lately. Having turned in a string of quite brilliant displays for Liverpool, the 25-year-old is finally being given his flowers in the press.
The latest to weigh in is Allardyce. Well-known as an old school, no nonsense type character, Big Sam doesn’t mince his words. If he’s not happy with you, you’ll know about it.
But fortunately for Alexander-Arnold, he’s now on the opposite side of that. Speaking on his No Tippy Tappy Football podcast, Allardyce has praised Liverpool’s No.66, whilst also declaring that he’s absolutely and unequivocally a central midfielder.
“Anybody that says it [midfield] shouldn’t be his permanent position I think is barking up the wrong tree,” said the 69-year-old. “It also saves Liverpool a lot of money buying a midfield player with that quality.
“What I like about his range of passing, most of the time he looks 30, 40, 50, 60 meters first, not 5, 10 meters. He looks 20, 30, 40 metres on, can he play somebody in, and he has the capability of playing that long pass and breaking defences with just one ball.”
Allardyce backs Trent for midfield role
It will be interesting just how long it takes Jurgen Klopp to hold out on playing Alexander-Arnold at right-back.
The Reds manager has of course moved the 25-year-old in-field at times ever since last season. But although this has sometimes been to play midfield outright, that has always been as a late cameo during games.
Trent himself is seemingly keen to feature as a full-time midfielder though, as he has been doing for England.
With his contract ticking down a little ominously, this could soon potentially be a real problem for Liverpool.
The answer could possibly lie in whether or not Klopp is targeting a new long-term right-back. There have been tentative links to the likes of Devyne Rensch of Ajax, but nothing would look imminent there.
Maybe in the summer, with more time to plan, that’s something that will properly be looked at.
Of course, Liverpool might just have the answer to that in their own squad already. It’s still very early days for Conor Bradley, but he was superb against Fulham on Wednesday. Put in a few more of those displays and when Trent is back from injury, he’ll be more free to feature in midfield. The back-up will be ready.
Whether you think Liverpool’s Scouser in the team is a right-back or a midfielder, what isn’t in dispute is that he’s a truly phenomenal passer of the ball. That’s something we can all agree on, Big Sam included.
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