Shocked Trent on the plane to Russia

GARETH Southgate has handed uncapped teenager Trent AlexanderArnold a shock place in England’s World Cup squad.

But his Liverpool team-mate Adam Lallana was an unexpected omission from the final 23-man party for Russia, with the midfielder forced to settle for a place on the standby list.

Alexander-Arnold, 19, was given the good news by Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp just before flying to Marbella with the Champions League finalists yesterday for a training camp.

‘The manager (Klopp) came and spoke to me just as we were getting on the plane,’ he said. ‘He asked me if I knew anything about the squad or anything yet. I said: “No” and he said: “Have you got anything planned around the time of the World Cup?” I was like: “No, no holidays or anything.”

‘He said: “Okay, good … you’re in the squad!” It was a really proud moment. It was nice of England to let the manager tell me.’

While his place in the squad came as something of a surprise, Alexander-Arnold’s key role in helping Klopp’s team reach the European final has played a big part in Southgate’s decision.

Despite the defender’s inexperience, Southgate believes his big-game appearances outweigh his lack of senior football.

Lallana, though, is sweating on his World Cup place after he was named as one of five players on the standby list.

He has fully recovered from a hamstring injury, making his return in last Sunday’s win over Brighton.

But the fact he has only started three games this season due to his injury problems have worked against him.

Lallana, 30, is one of three big-name omissions alongside Jack Wilshere and Joe Hart after Southgate selected the most inexperienced World Cup squad since 1962.

But Gary Cahill has earned an instant recall after being axed from the squad for the previous friendlies against Holland and Italy.

‘I believe this is a squad which we can be excited about,’ Southgate said.

‘It is a young group, but with some really important senior players, so I feel the balance of the squad is good, both in terms of its experience, its character and also the positional balance.

‘We have a lot of energy and athleticism in the team, but players who are equally comfortable in possession of the ball and I think people can see the style of play we’ve been looking to develop.

‘When we pick young players, it’s not just because they are young, it’s because their performances deserve it.’

Southgate spoke of the agonising phone calls he had to make to Hart and left-back Ryan Bertrand to inform them they weren’t picked. The pair have played regularly during the qualification campaign, but Southgate added: ‘They’re not decisions we took lightly. I could have had easier conversations by keeping them involved.

‘With Joe, we’ve got three other goalkeepers who have had very good seasons and the decision I was faced with was: do I keep Joe in and have experience around the group? Or do I give the three guys who have basically had a better season a chance?

‘We felt the players all needed to be in on merit after their performances this season.

‘Ryan is also very unfortunate in that it’s probably one of the strongest positions we have. Ryan has had a decent season but I just felt that the others were ahead of him.’

Tom Heaton, James Tarkowski, Lewis Cook and Jake Livermore are the others on standby.

If a member of the 23-man squad is ruled out of the tournament through injury, a player on the standby list can be called in any time up to 24 hours before England’s first game against Tunisia on June 18.