Trent Alexander-Arnold’s move from Liverpool to Real Madrid hasn’t yielded answers three months later

A switch to multi -year Champions League winners Real Madrid had to afford it Trent Alexander-Arnold a new start, and yet just over three months after departure LiverpoolWell -known questions are asked of the most brilliant esoteric back on the planet. Does it fit better in midfield than in the defense? What should his role be with England?

The latter problem has raised his head again with Thomas Tuchel who chooses to call Alexander-Arnold for the World Cup qualifications of England at home and road to Andorra Serbia. This was not an outright provision with the Real Madrid man, with Tuchel on pain to frame this less as a falling and more as “the moment for him to settle and find his rhythm” in the Spanish capital. The manager of England had acknowledged that calling Alexander-Arnold in the international camp of June underestimated the personal and professional challenges that were confronted by a player who made the first transfer of his career. Tuchel remains ‘a big fan of Trent’.

All that can be true, but recent evidence suggests that he is also struggling with exactly how Alexander-Arnold fits in his side when the biggest games come. In the course of a domestic season, Alexander-Arnold has proven that the defensive weaknesses in his game are more than compensated by what he creates in possession. Only the five Premier League seasons prior to this, only Bruno Fernandes Improved Alexander-Arnold in terms of expected assists. Nobody over the entire competition fits in with the attacking third. Jurgen Klopp and, to a slightly lesser extent, Arne Slot built their ball progression and casual creation plans around their right side, moved him up and inside because they knew that he would give them more goals from there than the opposition would claim to attack the spaces he corrected.

The calculus must be a little different in Knock -Out football. Tuchel, a manager who is defined by a cautious possession style, knows from experience with Chelsea That if your starting point in a big tournament is that you are the team that keeps the most clean sheets, you have a very good chance of winning. And so for all the encouragement he offered Alexander-Arnold last week, the most meaningful remarks of the German seem to have come before the summer games where he preferred Kyle Walker and a non-position Curtis Jones.

“This big impact he had for Liverpool for so many years … If he wants to have this impact in the English national team, then he must take the defensive part very, very seriously,” he said. “Because when we talk, especially about the qualification of football, and then tournament football ball, the only defensive mistake, one moment when you are not 100% awake, can be decisive. It can be the moment when you pack your suitcases and go home.”

It happened to Alexander-Arnold earlier. He was brilliant in the Run from Liverpool to the Champions League final in 2022, but fell asleep in the rear post halfway through the first half, allowing Vinicius Junior to pass him by and scored the only goal of the game. Would Tuchel turn to him in Serbia next week, let alone when it is a shame or glory next summer? The answer to that question can be quite different if England also has a revitalized Reece James and Tino Livramento available to them. Ben White’s English exile has also ended; If there was no injury ArsenalHe could have entered the frame this month.

Similar challenges stand for Alexander-Arnold in the Santiago Bernabeu. He has already felt the Angel of the starting XI, but that is really a reason for surprise when Madrid’s other right back club captain is back Dani Carvajal? There is no big reason for concern about the future of Alexander-Arnold in the long term performed impressive on his return to the starting XI against Mallorcaonly denied an assist through a VAR outside game of Kylian Mbappe – But the adaptation of the English international is already a talk point in the Spanish press. He was labeled “Timid” on his home debut and his decisions were considered “conservative”. Already in the World Cup of Club questions were asked about whether the future of the new signature in the long term could be in central midfield, a dance that is as old as the career of Alexander-Arnold, regardless of that it seemed largely to be answered by his difficulties in the position at Euro 2024.

His manager, Xabi Alonso, did enough to cool off any problems, and last month it was that Carvajal and Alexander-Arnold are fighting for one place “is great for improving the level of the team” and then explains that he would make decisions based on the right skills for each game. With potentially 60 games to play on the back of a Club World Cup, it makes sense that many positions in the Madrid team may be fluent. That is all the more true when Alexander-Arnold returned to Liverpool last season for his farewell to Liverpool before he immediately went into international service, a summer tournament and a short summer vacation that would have been filled with the practical method of moving from Merseyside to Madrid.

On the other hand, Alexander-Arnold wants to change that. He spoke about his ambitions to win the balloon d’Or, and in a recent interview with GQ SpainHe thought about his desire to test myself in a new context. ” He will certainly get that challenge early, but he will not be able to win the biggest individual prizes in the game for a task share.

What can he do to make himself an undisputed starter for club and country? A step forward defensively would help, reduce the quality that Carvajal has about him and Tuchel’s doubts about how he loses in the largest international games. To his honor, Alexander-Arnold improved last season when he was deployed in a more conservative way.

For now, however, the mood music around Alexander-Arnold did not change last season. When the actions of the English manager suggest that he shares the image of many skeptics, it will be difficult for Alexander-Arnold to answer some well-known questions.

England vs. Andorra View information

• Date: Saturday, September 6 | TimeNoon
• Location: Villa Park – Birmingham, United Kingdom
• TV: FS2 | Current: Fubo (Start watching, save $ 20!)
• Chances: England -3300; Drawing +1800; Andorra +12500