Trent Alexander-Arnold’s place in Gareth Southgate’s England team is set to remain an unknown until at least June when the team play two Euro 2024 warm-up matches against Bosnia & Herzegovina and Iceland on June 3 and June 7.
The England manager has admitted he has been “frustrated” that Trent Alexander-Arnold is injured and therefore missing from his England squad this week as he wanted to play him in midfield as he figures out his best starting XI for the summer.
Alexander-Arnold picked up a knee injury during Liverpool’s Third Round FA Cup victory at Arsenal in early January and looked to have shaken the injury off by early February. But he was withdrawn at half time of Liverpool’s 3-1 home win over Burnley and hasn’t played since.
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He is expected to return to action after the international break, but he will be aware he’s missed an opportunity to make a case for a starting role in England’s midfield, which is where he sees his future with the Three Lions.
“For England, I’d say I’m now a midfielder and that’s something that really excites me,” Alexander-Arnold exclusively told FourFourTwo. “It gives me the opportunity to get into the team. I think if it’s working, then long term I don’t see a reason to change that.”
Though Kyle Walker has withdrawn from the latest England squad due to injury, the Manchester City defender is expected to start at right back when England kick-off their Euro 2024 campaign. Alexander-Arnold therefore finds himself in 'England limbo': too good to leave on the bench, yet untried in midfield alongside the two other nailed on midfield starters: Declan Rice and Jude Bellingham.
“My main focus always has, and always will be, what I need to do to help the team win the game. Whether that’s defensively or offensively, I’m prepared to do that”, explains Alexander-Arnold when asked about how he approaches games as a midfielder.
“People will talk about the games where I’ve been able to dictate the play, but there have been matches where I’ve had to be more defensively sound and not been able to get on the ball. For me, it doesn’t matter. I like to impact the game at both ends of the pitch.
“If the feeling of the match is that I’m not going to get the ball too much and not be able to dictate things, then you have to find another way. If that means defensively doing your job as well as you can, stopping the attackers and getting a clean sheet, then I’ve helped the team to win the game.”
If Alexander-Arnold is to start England’s opening Euro 2024 game vs Serbia on 16 June, it’s likely his role will have to be more defensive, than offensive.
“I have liked the idea for a long time,” admitted Southgate this week when asked about Alexander-Arnold staring for England in midfield this summer. “But we are going to be trialing it when we have not seen it in a really high-level game, so we will just have to see where we can go with it."
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