Speaking recently on the Football Writers Podcast, Channel 4 News sports reporter Jordan Jarrett Bryan discussed Liverpool’s right-back, Trent Alexander-Arnold.
Since making his Liverpool debut back in October 2016, Alexander-Arnold has gone on to make 127 appearances for the Merseyside club, scoring seven goals and providing a remarkable 34 assists.
Although Liverpool fell just short of the Premier League title last season – finishing on 97 points, one point behind eventual champions Manchester City – the 21-year-old highly impressed, scoring one goal and providing 12 assists over his 29 appearances in the league.
He was also influential in Liverpool’s European campaign, featuring in all but two of Liverpool’s Champions League fixtures, providing four assists – including two in a famous 4-0 semi-final victory over Barcelona – helping his side to secure their sixth European title.
It has been a similar story once again this season, with the right-back failing to miss a single game of Liverpool’s Premier League season thus far, scoring three goals and providing 12 assists, helping his side to win their first English championship for 30 years.
However, despite this remarkable form and trophy-laden career, Jarrett Bryan recently discussed Alexander-Arnold on BT Sport’s Football Writers Podcast, suggesting he believes there is another Premier League right-back that has more potential than the Liverpool defender.
He said: “The scary thing about Alexander-Arnold is, I’m not quite sure how much further he goes from here. It’s almost like he’s peaking too soon because he’s so good. In three-four years from now, is the bar going to be that we expect 10 goals from him a season, 15-20 assists a season? It’s like, how much further is there to go?
“The reason why I like Aaron Wan-Bissaka – and I would probably lean more towards him – is not only because I think he’s a better defensive right-back, I think his ceiling is higher. I think there is a lot more in the next decade that he can achieve.
“My only slight concern with Alexander-Arnold is, how much more is there left? How much further as a right-back can he really go?
“The free-kick [against Crystal Palace] was brilliant, one of the best free-kicks I’ve seen this season. It wasn’t quite in the top corner, but it was the technique and the assurance – as Seb [Stafford-Bloor] says – of how he almost knew ‘I’m going to score this’ before he scored it – and I love that about him.”
TIF Thoughts…
Jarrett Bryan’s remarks regarding Alexander-Arnold are somewhat confusing.
It would seem that his argument is, essentially, Alexander-Arnold is too good at 21-years-old, and has peaked too soon – which, in our opinion, is a rather redundant take.
As a counter-argument, if we were to suggest that Lionel Messi was too good, or had peaked too soon, at the time he was 21-years-old (Messi had scored 48 goals by that age) – his subsequent 581 goals scored throughout his Barcelona career would make us – we believe – look rather stupid.
Is Trent Alexander-Arnold the best right-back in the world?
Yes
No
However, time will tell whether Alexander-Arnold can maintain his current form for Liverpool, and it is our opinion that doesn’t look like slowing down any time soon.