The year is 2004. Summer is fast approaching. In a classroom at a school in Liverpool, a group of excited students sit and follow along. The teacher has written down a number of names on slips of paper and put them in a hat. It’s time for the draw. Little do they know that this blink of an eye will be the start of a very special story. Life is full of coincidences, and for six-year-old Trent Alexander-Arnold, this day in the classroom becomes a life-defining blink of an eye. Now it must be decided which of the students at the Catholic school St. Matthews will receive an invitation to visit Liverpool’s football academy that summer. The club does not have room for everyone, so the teacher has to choose which of the children will be allowed. – I was lucky to be drawn, says Trent Alexander-Arnold today. That day in 2004 marks the start of a Liverpool career few can match. Today, he is one of the club’s biggest supporter favorites and is seen as a possible future captain. The road there has been like stepping out of a dream. At the age of six, not long after the aforementioned drawing in the classroom, he attended his first training sessions with the Liverpool academy. – The neighbors hate me It doesn’t take many sessions before academy scout Ian Barrigan is so impressed that he contacts the mother and asks if she can take her son there on a more regular basis to train and play matches for the club’s children’s team. Since then he has been a Liverpool player. CAR: Trent Alexander-Arnold has become a real Liverpool hero. Photo: PAUL ELLIS / AFP Someone who once had great faith that it could go all the way to Liverpool’s A team is youth coach Michael Beale. “Wow, what could this be?” He was appointed to Liverpool’s academy in 2012 after spending many years at Chelsea, and Beale does not forget what happened on his first day at work. It was used to be present at Liverpool’s U14 team playing against Manchester United U14, and in the 4-1 victory it was a young boy at right back who caught Beale’s attention. – It was Trent, even if he was a bit erratic. In the blink of an eye he was unable to receive the ball, while in the next he was able to turn away two players and hit a fantastic cross. He was full of energy, I liked him, says Beale. During his first period in Liverpool, he got a closer look at all the age groups in the academy from U10 to U16. – But Trent stood out the most, he had something special about him. When you look at academy teams today, you can see quite a few clones, but he really wasn’t like that. He had a look at the game that was different from the boys he played with, Beale believes. The academy coach recently looked through some old videos of matches from the club’s youth team. Then it was easy to see that Alexander-Arnold had a lot to work on, but the X-factor was that he was willing to learn. – It wasn’t like you said: “wow, what a talent he is now”. It was: “wow, what could this be?”, illustrates Beale. It is not without reason that Trent Alexander-Arnold is seen by many as a future Liverpool captain. He grew up a ten-minute walk from the training facility to the club, and it often happened that he took the trip over to Melwood to catch a glimpse of his big cars. TALENT: Trent Alexander-Arnold quickly distinguished himself as a youth player at Liverpool. Photo: OLI SCARFF / AFP Peeking through a crack Although he played for the club himself, the stars on the A team were part of a completely different world. – I always used to find a crack in the wall so I could look through. Melwood was surrounded by mystery, because you couldn’t actually see inside. I always wondered what it was like in there, and how incredible everything must be, he says in an interview with the Liverpool Echo. Sometimes he and his mother used to drive past the entrance to Melwood, where there were often large crowds of fans waiting for A-team players. Mora often used to stop the car to see if they could spot some of the stars. As a young Liverpool supporter, Steven Gerrard, Jamie Carragher, Xabi Alonso and Fernando Torres were his great role models. Was mentioned in Gerrard’s book And it didn’t take many years before Gerrard himself was fascinated again. In his autobiography, which was published in 2015, Gerrard wrote this about a young guy at the academy who he thought had the qualities to break through at the club: “Trent Arnold has a great chance to become a professional footballer at the highest level. He is quite hinged, but has a wonderful overall package and all the properties one needs. He has only turned 16, and is therefore not strong enough right now, but it will come,” wrote Gerrard. Talk about hitting the spot. Barely a year and a half after the book was published, Alexander-Arnold made his Premier League debut for Liverpool. FOREVIGA: This mural shows a bit of Trent Alexander-Arnold’s popularity in his hometown. Photo: OLI SCARFF / AFP In an interview with The Guardian, Trent talked about how he was young and immature for a long time while he was still an academy player for Liverpool. When the club started the job of retraining him from a midfielder to a right-back, and he made one mistake or another in his new role, it could often happen that he got so angry that he took the ball with his hands and kicked him “to hell” across the training field in pure frustration. – Never knew me well enough Today he has learned to channel his feelings, despite the fact that he thinks it would be wrong to portray it as him “losing it” when it happened. It all stems from a passion and desperation to get better. – I have never known myself well enough. Not in the sense that I don’t feel talented, but I have never felt that “this is good enough”, and I will never feel that either, he is sure. LITTLE PLAYING TIME: Trent Alexander-Arnold got 33 minutes in the World Cup. Photo: Ian Walton / AP As a right-back, he has in many ways developed his role in a direction that has not been seen before. For Liverpool, the 24-year-old has been as important offensively as defensively. In the Premier League, he has already managed to play 175 games. In these matches, he has scored 11 goals and a whopping 45 assists. – Can see things others cannot see Last season he created the most chances of absolutely everyone in the Premier League, official statistics show. Only Bruno Fernandes (89 chances) and Kevin De Bruyne were in the vicinity of the 90 goalscoring chances created for the Liverpool defender, something that speaks volumes for the insane offensive level he has. And that as a right back. He himself believes that the impressive statistics are about an innate x-factor. – I feel I can see things that others cannot see. And the more I can see, the more options I have. Being able to judge alternatives and choose what hurts the opponent the most is something I have that other players don’t have, he says himself. But this season it has started to slow down a bit. After 12 games in the league, he has not yet recorded a single goal-scoring pass, and Gareth Southgate was probably hoping for a World Cup defender in better shape. In the WC he was eaten with 33 minutes of playing time. – There are a lot of prejudices In an interview with Talksport in the World Cup, the Liverpool full-back addressed what he believes to be prejudiced criticism of his defensive play. – It has come to a point where it has become the lazy and easy attitude to have. People watch the matches and see what they want to see. There are a lot of prejudices now. If you have the opinion that a player is lazy, and once see that he does not take a run, then it is reinforced in your head that he is lazy. Then you don’t see what happens the rest of the match where he takes constant runs and sprints, he says. THE BOSS: Gareth Southgate has taken steps to bring out the best in Trent Alexander-Arnold. Photo: Petr David Josek / AP Gary Neville pleaded with Gareth Southgate not to lose faith in his sometimes reviled right-back. – If he can work a bit on the fundamentals, we will probably have one of the best right-backs the world has ever produced, Neville believes. The Liverpool profile is described as special on the pitch, but the same can be said about what happens outside. The 24-year-old is not like all other football stars. “The Melwood Grandmaster”. He is also very busy with chess, and in English media he is referred to as “The Melwood Grandmaster”. In fact, his interest went so far that in 2018 he contacted Team Magnus Carlsen for the chance to play against the best chess player in the world. – Football has always been my passion, but at the same time I have always played chess. It’s an outlet for me, and I’ve been playing since I was very young, says Alexander-Arnold about the interest. He hoped to surprise the world chess champion, but Carlsen only needed 17 moves to win. He still lasted longer than Microsoft founder Bill Gates, who was beaten at nine. He apparently lives a life without glamour, glitter and scandal reports in the English tabloids. Instead, Alexander-Arnold spends much of his time as an ambassador for the Liverpool-based and charitable organization “An Hour for Others”, which helps the disadvantaged in society with everything from food vouchers to courses and education. In addition, he has started “The Trent Alexander-Arnold League”, which ensures that children from poor parts of Liverpool can play football without worrying about the costs. He pays. LUKTAR ASSISTS: He himself says that it naturally fell to him to see solutions that no one else does. Photo: PAUL ELLIS / AFP Trent Alexander-Arnold has come a long way since his name was drawn in 2004. As a Liverpool player, he has won all the major trophies. In May this year, he became the youngest ever to start in three championship finals. He became champion with Liverpool against Tottenham in the 2018/2019 final, but has lost two finals against Real Madrid. In addition to the Champions League, he has helped win the Premier League and the FA Cup with Liverpool. After the penalty drama in the FA Cup final against Chelsea earlier this year, James Milner came up with some well-intentioned advice for the right-back. – I said to Trent: Your trophy cabinet is full, but don’t get tired of it. You never know when things will change. Sources: The Guardian, Sky Sports, Liverpool Echo, The Telegraph, Liverpool.no, The Times, The Coaches voice, Monday Night football.
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A note was the start of the Liverpool star’s dream life: – I was lucky – news Sport – Sports news, results and broadcast schedule
