Bends it like Beckham.. delivers like De Bruyne.. and spurred on by Stevie
TRENT INSPIRED BY BEING COMPARED TO LEGENDS
TRENT ALEXANDER ARNOLD has been compared to Kevin De Bruyne and David Beckham this season.
But it was Liverpool legend Steven Gerrard who the 21-yearold grew up admiring and modelling his game on.
Anfield hero Jamie Carragher claimed Alexander-arnold could one day play in a role like Manchester City’s De Bruyne as “he has more quality now than Liverpool’s midfield players”.
Another former Red, Danny Murphy, claimed the England right-back is “as good a crosser of the ball as David Beckham”.
But Alexander-arnold, who is staying grounded despite all the lofty comparisons, enjoyed watching a player closer to home as he was growing up in Liverpool’s academy.
When asked who he modelled himself on, he said: “Gerrard, really. Everything about his game I really admired. I always studied him and wanted to be like him.
“I never thought, ‘I want to cross a ball like that,’ it happened naturally. It is probably my best asset going forward, so I try to use that.”
Alexander-arnold also told how rather than run away from the comparisons, he enjoys embracing the challenge to try to become world class himself.
“If you want to be the best in the world, you have to have an open mind,” he said. “It’s not maybe wanting to be compared as we’ve not achieved what those players managed so it’s difficult to say whether we will or won’t.
“Who knows? You have to have an open mind and achieve the levels of those players and be regarded in the same bracket as them.”
Alexander-arnold has become
Liverpool’s assist king with his ability to cross, and that gives England a great asset going forward.
He has already provided three for Jurgen Klopp’s league leaders this season, and got a staggering 15 in the league last season.
He has worked on his free-kicks after studying Gerrard down the years, but says any idea of switching into midfield to be the next De Bruyne is a long way from his thoughts.
“I remember Gerrard always took them ( free-kicks) for Liverpool and always took that responsibility,” said Alexander-arnold.
“I feel as though if someone feels confident to take a free-kick or setpiece they should – and I feel confident stepping up and putting a decent ball into the box.
“I’m not fussed where I play. I just want to play football. If the manager decides that he wants to use me as a midfielder, centre-back or striker, that is where I will play.
“The only time I walk off disappointed is if we haven’t won.
“It is not important if I get assists. First and foremost, the objective is to win no matter what happens. Does not matter if I have an assist or clean sheets or goals – it is about winning.
“I am defending first and foremost and I want to help the team and create chances. Obviously it is a different position and different type of player.”
Of Carragher’s comment he added:
“That’s his point of view and maybe one day it will happen.
“But for the time being, the manager has obviously decided I’m a rightback and that is where I will play.” Alexander-arnold has a Champions League winner’s medal and is now eyeing title success to end Liverpool’s 30year wait.
But while he says there is “hunger and determination” at Liverpool to win more trophies, there is a similar feeling with England.
They can clinch qualification for Euro 2020 in the next two games in Czech Republic and Bulgaria, but will also have to learn some lessons from the last qualifiers, including a 5-3 win over Kosovo. Alexander-arnold added: “We will analyse what went wrong and try to make sure it doesn’t happen again. Kosovo were an underrated side and we had massive respect for them.
“We knew they had threats and luckily we were able to outscore them but we were not happy with the goals we conceded. “We analyse our games and know what is going right and what’s not. We have not had the meeting yet but we will do over the next few days.
“It’s important to look back at our games and see where we need to improve and the obvious ones were the amount of goals we conceded. We will make sure we get it right.”