Articles
Trent Alexander-Arnold: the schoolboy Liverpool fan who became one of Europe’s best full-backs
Trent Alexander-Arnold has added dedication to his natural talent, writes Paul Joyce as the defender prepares for the Champions League final
The Times, May 24 2019, 5:00pm
The refrain echoing from the touchline on one of the pitches at the rear of Liverpool’s academy was familiar. “He’s gone,” bellowed a voice. “Trent’s quit. Give Bobby the ball. Get at Trent, get at him.”
Trent Alexander-Arnold was being put through the wringer again. His team-mate Bobby Adekanye was relishing a role which saw him cast as a sparring partner. The cutting instructions were being delivered by Neil Critchley, then the under-18s coach, and the academy director Alex Inglethorpe.
The same scenario had been played out during the previous day’s session. And the day before that.
The physical and technical gifts of the right back, 20, who is expected to start in the Champions League final against Tottenham Hotspur in Madrid next Saturday, always marked him out as prodigiously talented. But there were concerns about how the teenager, who was on the cusp of his 17th birthday and in his first year as a scholar, reacted when things did not go his way in matches.
At times, the welling frustration would see him smash into opponents, risking a red card or the concession of a rash penalty. On other occasions, energy levels would drop. Either way, the characteristics associated with being a sore loser would not sustain a Premier League career at an elite club.
So, at the complex in Kirkby, a 15-minute drive from the first team’s Melwood base in West Derby, Liverpool’s youth coaches spoke to the teenager and got to work. The sound emanating from the sidelines would grate, with the willingness of Adekanye to try to make him look silly an additional irritant. Yet those drills, designed to instil mental resilience, proved invaluable.
“I had no idea that he would be making his debut away at Old Trafford against [Anthony] Martial within a couple of years, but the one thing I did know was that he couldn’t give up,” Inglethorpe explains. “He couldn’t quit and had to find a way of staying in the game and not letting himself down.
“You have to train for that moment. That is what the academy does. It creates habits and behaviour that is going to help you in the next level because the next level is not easy.
Alexander-Arnold joined Liverpool when he was six years old.
“If he didn’t like my voice for a while then multiply that by 60,000 Liverpool fans at a game, and another couple of million watching on TV who are going to be really honest on social media. A manager who is going to make demands of you and a group of highly professional players who are holding their dreams with you.”
Over the ensuing months, Alexander-Arnold displayed a marked improvement and, for an example of how those methods continue to help, rewind to the win away to Cardiff City last month. He weathered a testing first half at the hands of the pacey Nathaniel Mendez-Laing. It was no surprise when he later provided the assist for the opening goal.
Making the difference has become a trademark. His steep, upward trajectory has not always been smooth. There have been bumps in the road disguised by a remarkable rise which brought a World Cup debut with England last summer and means that he could now become the youngest player to start consecutive European Cup finals. Christian Panucci was 21 and 22 when playing for AC Milan in 1994 and 1995 against Barcelona and Ajax respectively.
There is, clearly, an in-built desire to improve complemented by the ability to recognise what it takes to reach the next level. That scene on the academy training pitch reveals a willingness to listen to those in authority, whom he recognises are actually trying to help him and, underpinning everything, is a “F*** you, I’ll prove you wrong” kind of attitude.
“He is unbelievably competitive,” Inglethorpe says, “but the best ones tend to be.” And there is little doubt that Alexander-Arnold, who would walk from the family home near Melwood and peer over the wall to catch a glimpse of his idol Steven Gerrard or Jamie Carragher, Fernando Torres and Xabi Alonso among others, has the potential to be one of the best.
He has been under Liverpool’s tutelage since the age of six, when his name was plucked out of a hat at St Matthew’s Primary School, in the Clubmoor area of the city, to attend a summer camp at the club’s academy. Coaches immediately approached his parents, Dianne and Mikey, who deserve the credit for being the key influences in their son’s career.
The defender, whose older brother Tyler is his manager and who has a younger sibling Marcell, benefits from a home environment which does not provide excuses. If Alexander-Arnold has not played well, then there is an honest appraisal awaiting him.
During his time at the academy there was not one phone call to the coaches complaining that he would be better in a different position, a moan that he did not receive enough of the ball or that Liverpool were not getting the best out of him. That is refreshingly rare in this money-flushed modern era where parents are quick to cry conspiracy. It served to set an important boundary from the outset: Alexander-Arnold knew from a young age that he would only get out of his career what he was prepared to put in.
His mother spoke recently to parents of children at the academy about the journey ahead of them, and how they can provide support, but the role of his dad is often overlooked. Work took Mikey to London when Alexander-Arnold was growing up, though the sacrifices that he made for the family have helped his son to be driven and focused.
He also insisted that the pursuit of a professional career should not impact on education, speaking about the need for a plan B. There were even occasions when, if Alexander-Arnold’s schoolwork had dipped, he would not be allowed to train.
Alexander-Arnold passed all his GCSE’s with good grades and might have continued his education, going on to university to pursue an interest in sport, had he not forged a successful path on the field. Such values lie at the heart of his development and continue to shape his outlook.
A small circle of five friends, which includes Tyler and a cousin, reflects how seriously Alexander-Arnold has approached this opportunity, having displayed no interest in going out as other teenagers might. His school prom at Rainhill High, the school to which Liverpool send their academy recruits, was one of the first parties he attended outside family gatherings. Even now, if he has two games in a week, which is often the case, he will not countenance a night out and rarely drinks.
The Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp this week described Alexander-Arnold and another 20-year-old, Paris Saint-Germain’s Kylian Mbappé, as role models. Such status means the clamour by big brands to become associated with him has turned into a stampede.
Over the past 18 months, Alexander-Arnold has learnt to be selective in commercial dealings, seeking to build partnerships with potential long-term backers, having taken note of Gary Lineker’s association with Walkers crisps for more than two decades. A boot contract with the US sportswear brand Under Armour is close to being finalised, with plans in the pipeline to use some of the proceeds to give back to the local community. One idea would be to purchase land and build community pitches in Liverpool, but the vision extends beyond simply football to providing facilities that would ensure that the next generation are not left to roam the streets with nothing to do.
As a child, Alexander-Arnold would spend so much time practising that the ball would regularly disappear over the fence into next door’s garden. One exasperated neighbour resorted to popping the offending ball in search of respite.
Otherwise, he would escape to nearby Larkhill Park, where jumpers would become goalposts, or take a five-minute walk and clamber over railings at the Peter Lloyd Leisure Centre. Once, he sliced his hand open on glass scattered on the field; another reason why the provision of safe facilities matters.
He also supports the charity An Hour For Others, which aids the needy in a variety of ways from decorating rooms and gardening to providing Christmas dinner. Yet the primary focus remains on football.
His whipped right-foot assists — he registered 12 in the Premier League this season — have caught the eye but one of the best passes of the campaign was the 40-yard, left-foot ball which switched play and allowed Andrew Robertson to set up Roberto Firmino in the 2-1 defeat by Manchester City in January. The idea to work on improving his weaker foot came from watching Kevin Stewart, the former Liverpool midfielder who moved to Hull City in the same summer (2017) that Robertson moved to Anfield, in training. Stewart would use his left foot more than his right at times.
Alexander-Arnold has also worked hard on refining his set-piece delivery since the start of the season, when it was pointed out that his technique was lacking in consistency compared to how Cristiano Ronaldo might prepare for a free kick or Jonny Wilkinson a conversion. He stayed after training to polish his skills.
The irony is that it was an improvised corner routine which set up Divock Origi’s winning goal against Barcelona and sealed Liverpool’s passage to Madrid. A “genius moment” is how Klopp described the action: the step away as if sticking to a set routine and, then, the sharp turn back and pinpoint centre which caught nine unsuspecting rivals frozen in time and offered his team-mate a route to glory. He was left out of the starting line-up at Manchester United in March, while Joe Gomez was picked ahead of him in the Champions League away games away to PSG and Barcelona. Different tactics are required for different games and, as he approaches his 43rd match of the season, it is unrealistic to expect a player so young to start every week.
Yet he will have taken omission as a personal slight and we are back in “I’ll show you” territory. Post Nou Camp, he provided two assists against Newcastle United and two against Barcelona in the second leg.
Less than 48 hours after the win over Barcelona, Alexander-Arnold was present as 26 under-nines signed their first Liverpool contracts, the youngsters left wide-eyed and open-mouthed when he walked into the room.
But one question of Inglethorpe remains to be asked. Go to the academy and there are banners proclaiming the development of other talents who have come through the ranks: Fowler, Flanagan, Gerrard and Sterling.
The name of Alexander-Arnold is conspicuous by its absence. A Champions League winners’ medal and that may change? “He is certainly on his way,” Inglethorpe smiles. “He is getting closer. He’ll get a banner — somewhere.”
Copyright - The Times
The Times, May 24 2019, 5:00pm
The refrain echoing from the touchline on one of the pitches at the rear of Liverpool’s academy was familiar. “He’s gone,” bellowed a voice. “Trent’s quit. Give Bobby the ball. Get at Trent, get at him.”
Trent Alexander-Arnold was being put through the wringer again. His team-mate Bobby Adekanye was relishing a role which saw him cast as a sparring partner. The cutting instructions were being delivered by Neil Critchley, then the under-18s coach, and the academy director Alex Inglethorpe.
The same scenario had been played out during the previous day’s session. And the day before that.
The physical and technical gifts of the right back, 20, who is expected to start in the Champions League final against Tottenham Hotspur in Madrid next Saturday, always marked him out as prodigiously talented. But there were concerns about how the teenager, who was on the cusp of his 17th birthday and in his first year as a scholar, reacted when things did not go his way in matches.
At times, the welling frustration would see him smash into opponents, risking a red card or the concession of a rash penalty. On other occasions, energy levels would drop. Either way, the characteristics associated with being a sore loser would not sustain a Premier League career at an elite club.
So, at the complex in Kirkby, a 15-minute drive from the first team’s Melwood base in West Derby, Liverpool’s youth coaches spoke to the teenager and got to work. The sound emanating from the sidelines would grate, with the willingness of Adekanye to try to make him look silly an additional irritant. Yet those drills, designed to instil mental resilience, proved invaluable.
“I had no idea that he would be making his debut away at Old Trafford against [Anthony] Martial within a couple of years, but the one thing I did know was that he couldn’t give up,” Inglethorpe explains. “He couldn’t quit and had to find a way of staying in the game and not letting himself down.
“You have to train for that moment. That is what the academy does. It creates habits and behaviour that is going to help you in the next level because the next level is not easy.
Alexander-Arnold joined Liverpool when he was six years old.
“If he didn’t like my voice for a while then multiply that by 60,000 Liverpool fans at a game, and another couple of million watching on TV who are going to be really honest on social media. A manager who is going to make demands of you and a group of highly professional players who are holding their dreams with you.”
Over the ensuing months, Alexander-Arnold displayed a marked improvement and, for an example of how those methods continue to help, rewind to the win away to Cardiff City last month. He weathered a testing first half at the hands of the pacey Nathaniel Mendez-Laing. It was no surprise when he later provided the assist for the opening goal.
Making the difference has become a trademark. His steep, upward trajectory has not always been smooth. There have been bumps in the road disguised by a remarkable rise which brought a World Cup debut with England last summer and means that he could now become the youngest player to start consecutive European Cup finals. Christian Panucci was 21 and 22 when playing for AC Milan in 1994 and 1995 against Barcelona and Ajax respectively.
There is, clearly, an in-built desire to improve complemented by the ability to recognise what it takes to reach the next level. That scene on the academy training pitch reveals a willingness to listen to those in authority, whom he recognises are actually trying to help him and, underpinning everything, is a “F*** you, I’ll prove you wrong” kind of attitude.
“He is unbelievably competitive,” Inglethorpe says, “but the best ones tend to be.” And there is little doubt that Alexander-Arnold, who would walk from the family home near Melwood and peer over the wall to catch a glimpse of his idol Steven Gerrard or Jamie Carragher, Fernando Torres and Xabi Alonso among others, has the potential to be one of the best.
He has been under Liverpool’s tutelage since the age of six, when his name was plucked out of a hat at St Matthew’s Primary School, in the Clubmoor area of the city, to attend a summer camp at the club’s academy. Coaches immediately approached his parents, Dianne and Mikey, who deserve the credit for being the key influences in their son’s career.
The defender, whose older brother Tyler is his manager and who has a younger sibling Marcell, benefits from a home environment which does not provide excuses. If Alexander-Arnold has not played well, then there is an honest appraisal awaiting him.
During his time at the academy there was not one phone call to the coaches complaining that he would be better in a different position, a moan that he did not receive enough of the ball or that Liverpool were not getting the best out of him. That is refreshingly rare in this money-flushed modern era where parents are quick to cry conspiracy. It served to set an important boundary from the outset: Alexander-Arnold knew from a young age that he would only get out of his career what he was prepared to put in.
His mother spoke recently to parents of children at the academy about the journey ahead of them, and how they can provide support, but the role of his dad is often overlooked. Work took Mikey to London when Alexander-Arnold was growing up, though the sacrifices that he made for the family have helped his son to be driven and focused.
He also insisted that the pursuit of a professional career should not impact on education, speaking about the need for a plan B. There were even occasions when, if Alexander-Arnold’s schoolwork had dipped, he would not be allowed to train.
Alexander-Arnold passed all his GCSE’s with good grades and might have continued his education, going on to university to pursue an interest in sport, had he not forged a successful path on the field. Such values lie at the heart of his development and continue to shape his outlook.
A small circle of five friends, which includes Tyler and a cousin, reflects how seriously Alexander-Arnold has approached this opportunity, having displayed no interest in going out as other teenagers might. His school prom at Rainhill High, the school to which Liverpool send their academy recruits, was one of the first parties he attended outside family gatherings. Even now, if he has two games in a week, which is often the case, he will not countenance a night out and rarely drinks.
The Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp this week described Alexander-Arnold and another 20-year-old, Paris Saint-Germain’s Kylian Mbappé, as role models. Such status means the clamour by big brands to become associated with him has turned into a stampede.
Over the past 18 months, Alexander-Arnold has learnt to be selective in commercial dealings, seeking to build partnerships with potential long-term backers, having taken note of Gary Lineker’s association with Walkers crisps for more than two decades. A boot contract with the US sportswear brand Under Armour is close to being finalised, with plans in the pipeline to use some of the proceeds to give back to the local community. One idea would be to purchase land and build community pitches in Liverpool, but the vision extends beyond simply football to providing facilities that would ensure that the next generation are not left to roam the streets with nothing to do.
As a child, Alexander-Arnold would spend so much time practising that the ball would regularly disappear over the fence into next door’s garden. One exasperated neighbour resorted to popping the offending ball in search of respite.
Otherwise, he would escape to nearby Larkhill Park, where jumpers would become goalposts, or take a five-minute walk and clamber over railings at the Peter Lloyd Leisure Centre. Once, he sliced his hand open on glass scattered on the field; another reason why the provision of safe facilities matters.
He also supports the charity An Hour For Others, which aids the needy in a variety of ways from decorating rooms and gardening to providing Christmas dinner. Yet the primary focus remains on football.
His whipped right-foot assists — he registered 12 in the Premier League this season — have caught the eye but one of the best passes of the campaign was the 40-yard, left-foot ball which switched play and allowed Andrew Robertson to set up Roberto Firmino in the 2-1 defeat by Manchester City in January. The idea to work on improving his weaker foot came from watching Kevin Stewart, the former Liverpool midfielder who moved to Hull City in the same summer (2017) that Robertson moved to Anfield, in training. Stewart would use his left foot more than his right at times.
Alexander-Arnold has also worked hard on refining his set-piece delivery since the start of the season, when it was pointed out that his technique was lacking in consistency compared to how Cristiano Ronaldo might prepare for a free kick or Jonny Wilkinson a conversion. He stayed after training to polish his skills.
The irony is that it was an improvised corner routine which set up Divock Origi’s winning goal against Barcelona and sealed Liverpool’s passage to Madrid. A “genius moment” is how Klopp described the action: the step away as if sticking to a set routine and, then, the sharp turn back and pinpoint centre which caught nine unsuspecting rivals frozen in time and offered his team-mate a route to glory. He was left out of the starting line-up at Manchester United in March, while Joe Gomez was picked ahead of him in the Champions League away games away to PSG and Barcelona. Different tactics are required for different games and, as he approaches his 43rd match of the season, it is unrealistic to expect a player so young to start every week.
Yet he will have taken omission as a personal slight and we are back in “I’ll show you” territory. Post Nou Camp, he provided two assists against Newcastle United and two against Barcelona in the second leg.
Less than 48 hours after the win over Barcelona, Alexander-Arnold was present as 26 under-nines signed their first Liverpool contracts, the youngsters left wide-eyed and open-mouthed when he walked into the room.
But one question of Inglethorpe remains to be asked. Go to the academy and there are banners proclaiming the development of other talents who have come through the ranks: Fowler, Flanagan, Gerrard and Sterling.
The name of Alexander-Arnold is conspicuous by its absence. A Champions League winners’ medal and that may change? “He is certainly on his way,” Inglethorpe smiles. “He is getting closer. He’ll get a banner — somewhere.”
Copyright - The Times
