Klopp stunned by England’s snub for Trent

JURGEN KLOPP has expressed shock over defender Trent Alexander-Arnold’s axing from the England squad and admitted he cannot understand Gareth Southgate’s decision. Alexander-Arnold, 22, was left startled and angry about being cut from Southgate’s plans for the World Cup qualifiers with San Marino, Albania and Poland. It now looks likely that he will not be involved in this summer’s European Championships. The move from Southgate was such a surprise to Liverpool that Klopp had to re-configure his training sessions during the international break to include Alexander-Arnold (above), having initially expected him to be away for most of the two weeks with his country. Although the right-back has had a difficult season, struggling at times with the lingering effects of Covid-19 and then a calf injury sustained in November, Klopp believes he is over those issues. ‘So I was surprised when he didn’t get the call up,’ said the Liverpool manager. ‘I didn’t plan at all with him. We had sessions planned for after the call-ups when players who were going on their national duties had time off and Trent was in that group — just to show how surprised I was about it. ‘I respect that Gareth makes his own decisions but I didn’t understand it because Trent AlexanderArnold was in the last two seasons — let me say the season before and the season before that — the standout right-back in world football. That is the truth. ‘Now he has started the season with Covid early on, which is not good. ‘It took him a while to get into the season but, from that moment he was one of our most consistent players. So that cannot be the reason he was not in the squad.’