Liverpool: Alexander-Arnold told he’s not ‘better than’ Real Madrid quartet with best role suggested
Joe Cole has discussed the best position for Trent Alexander-Arnold at Real Madrid, after listing off four players he will not get in the team ahead of.
Liverpool right-back Alexander-Arnold has announced his decision to leave the club at the end of the season. Reports for months have placed him at Real Madrid next up, though no official announcement has been made.
Alexander-Arnold has played as both a right-back and a midfielder in his career. With Dani Carvajal now 33 and having been injured this season, the position on the right side of the defence at Real seems perfect for the Liverpool man to take.
Speaking on The Dressing Room Podcast, Joe Cole and Carlton Cole have discussed his best position. The latter’s suggestion that Alexander-Arnold “might go and play midfield” was met with this response from his co-host.
“But how can he play midfield when you’ve got [Federico] Valverde, [Jude] Bellingham, [Eduardo] Camavinga, [Aurelien] Tchouameni?”
Carlton then stated: “What, he’s not better than any of them in midfield?”
From his response, it seems his co-host indeed believes Alexander-Arnold is not better than any of the aforementioned names.
“I’d like to see him go to and play right-back for Real Madrid. I think what they’ll do is they’ll probably balance it out,” he said.
“They’re looking at [William] Saliba as well. Imagine Saliba and [Antonio] Rudiger and the other young centre-half they’ve got going [Raul Asencio], sort of as a three.”
It seems pretty clear that Real want Alexander-Arnold as a right-back, lodging a bid for him in January when Carvajal was injured.
They are reportedly happy for him to step up the field to create, and also take the responsibility for set pieces. But one of the aforementioned names sometimes struggles to get into the midfield himself.
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Indeed, given the quality of the others, Camavinga has been known to play left-back on occasion, while the others remain in midfield.
If an actual midfielder, and a quality one at that, cannot get into Real’s midfield, a right-back who has hardly played there seems to have very little chance at getting in.
The signing of Saliba has been mooted of late, though. Recently it’s been suggested that the Frenchman could leave Arsenal at the end of the season, and the Gunners have identified Cristhian Mosquera as a replacement.
READ MORE: Trent Alexander-Arnold warned he’s ‘going to get annihilated’ in ‘brutal’ Real Madrid practice
