At 23 years of age, Trent Alexander-Arnold is already supremely profitable.
The Liverpool and England defender has developed into one among Europe’s elite right-backs, displaying athleticism and playmaking skills which might be uncommon to seek out in his place.
Nonetheless, away from the pitch, Alexander-Arnold’s grounding has proved key for him remaining level-headed, regardless of being a significant cog in among the best soccer groups on this planet.
Whereas many in his place could be out spending their newfound wealth on automobiles, homes or leisure, Alexander-Arnold’s focus is way nearer to residence.
He could also be a neighborhood icon for Liverpool’s greatest crew, however he nonetheless lives along with his mother and father, doing the dishes and studying habits that assist hold his life “clear and wholesome.”
Staying in a spot the place every thing is steady has helped him attain the heights he has, Alexander-Arnold explains.
“I at all times suppose younger gamers rush issues,” he instructed CNN Senior Sport Analyst Darren Lewis. “You begin getting paid some cash and younger gamers at all times suppose the very first thing is to maneuver out, get a brand new automotive, stuff like that.
“After which the surroundings is simply not the identical. You are residing at residence. You’ve got acquired your mother and father to maintain you in line and ensure issues are clear and tidy, the dishes aren’t stacking up and you are going residence to a pleasant, clear surroundings and issues like that.
“Whereas residing at residence (by yourself), breakfast and dinner, you simply suppose: ‘I will do this later.’ And then you definitely are available in from coaching and then you definitely’re simply not in a clear, good surroundings. So I’ve by no means felt a rush to depart residence. I’ve at all times had the fitting messages.
“I’ve simply at all times loved having household round me. They usually’ve saved my ft on the bottom and pushed me to the degrees that I’ve acquired to this point. So I do not suppose there’s any rush for me to decide.”
Followers
Ever since he can bear in mind, Alexander-Arnold has been a Liverpool fan.
From residing simply 5 minutes away from the crew’s coaching floor — he remembers asking his mother to take him and his siblings to catch a glimpse of their “idols” by means of the cracks within the partitions on their days off from college — to watching them on the weekends, he was in love with the membership from a younger age.
In celebration of Liverpool’s dramatic Champions League win in 2005, Alexander-Arnold was one among 1000’s who took to the town’s streets to welcome residence their heroes within the open-top bus parade.
Though he was a large fan, his personal introduction on the membership was one among pure luck. “It was like a half-term camp and the invite acquired despatched to my college and it was like: ‘So who needs to go?'” he mentioned.
“And as you’ll be able to think about, everybody within the classroom put their hand up. We have now to select names out of a hat, and fortunately my title acquired picked out. I went alongside to it with just a few classmates and after — I do not understand how lengthy it was — I feel perhaps 10, quarter-hour, a scout went as much as my mother and mentioned: ‘We would like you to begin bringing him up right here in the event you can?'”
And as he explains: “The remaining is historical past.”
Since making his first-team debut in 2016, Alexander-Arnold has blossomed into probably the most dynamic fullbacks on this planet, terrorizing defenses from a deep place along with his exact crosses and correct through-balls.
In his 161 appearances within the Premier League, he is scored 10 objectives, offered 45 assists and has a exceptional document of profitable 114 video games and solely dropping 19 occasions.
However regardless of that document, such has been the brilliance of Manchester Metropolis below Pep Guardiola, Alexander-Arnold and Liverpool’s trophy profitable has been stymied.
Sure, they’ve gained a lot throughout his time within the first crew, however the Reds have been narrowly pipped to the Premier League title 4 occasions within the final 5 years — twice by only one level.
The nip-and-tuck battle between the 2 English juggernauts has turn out to be must-watch TV over the course of a season, with Alexander-Arnold admitting enjoying Man Metropolis is Liverpool’s “greatest sport of the season,” regardless of historically having extra intense rivalries with Everton and Manchester United.
“I feel, traditionally, there’s at all times going to be that rigidity and the rivalries with Everton and with United. However I feel proper now, it is for various causes. I feel there’s at all times going to be a dislike with Liverpool and Everton and Man United,” he mentioned.
“It is at all times going to be that regardless of the place both crew finishes within the league, every time it is occurring, there are at all times very heated video games and each followers actually wish to win it essentially the most. However I feel for various causes, now, Man Metropolis is the largest sport of season, the perfect crew in England, one among, if not the, finest crew on this planet as effectively.
“And, after all, they’re the crew that set the tempo, set the benchmark for the remainder of the league. 4 leagues in 5 years is one thing that not many groups can say we have achieved. So it is troublesome for us to look previous them and search for wherever else as motivation. Our motivation is that if we keep in and round Metropolis, then during the last 4 or 5 years, you are in place.”
Season finale
Though final 12 months was one other profitable season for Liverpool and Alexander-Arnold personally — with each FA Cup and League Cup winners medals added to the trophy cupboard — it ended on a bitter be aware.
The sport was delayed by 35 minutes as Liverpool followers struggled to get into the Stade de France, with the French police utilizing tear gasoline on followers held in tightly packed areas.
After the match, regardless of the membership’s account of occasions and particulars from the followers, Reds followers have been blamed partially for the disruption, with French Inside Minister Gerald Darmanin saying “that the disturbances triggered have been associated to an enormous inflow of spectators and an in depth variety of false tickets.”
Senator Laurent Lafon, president of the Tradition, Training and Communication Fee, which co-authored the report, blamed the violent scenes on the remaining on “a sequence of malfunctions that occurred in a slightly obscure administrative and decision-making framework.”
And for Alexander-Arnold and the remainder of his teammates, he admits the entire state of affairs was “unusual.”
“The messages that have been broadcast by means of the stadium was late fan arrivals and stuff like that … and also you consider what you hear and see in these conditions,” he mentioned.
“Then it wasn’t till after the sport, clearly, we truly discovered the reality and what occurred, what went on. However I feel the best way the followers have handled it — when it occurred, in the course of the sport and after the sport and the next months afterwards — has been excellent.
“It is one thing us as gamers and as a membership, we’re actually pleased with, the best way they’ve made certain the reality has come out. They’ve made certain that the followers should not simply getting blamed for stuff that they’ve achieved.”
