Chelsea legend John Terry has given his seal of approval to Gary Neville 's in-depth analysis detailing exactly how Liverpool right-back Trent Alexander-Arnold can up his game.
Neville, one of the greatest right-backs in English football history, expertly delivered a four-point plan for the 23-year-old defender to follow on Sky Sports' latest Monday Night Football. The ex- Manchester United stalwart insisted that Alexander-Arnold needs to work on traits such as intensity, awareness, one-versus-one defending and body shape in order to rescue his season after a torrid start which has weakened his chances of featuring for England at the World Cup.
As Neville received a raft of plaudits for his analysis, Terry endorsed his old international teammate's plan of action for the struggling Liverpool academy graduate. "Superb insight," the former Chelsea captain tweeted. "Any young defenders or right-backs should watch this."
With Alexander-Arnold enduring undoubtedly the most difficult period of his short yet spectacular senior career, criticism has been hard to escape. But Neville is still a big fan the "unbelievably special" talent and compared him to an icon of the game during his astute analysis.
"If he can just work on those four basic things, we won't just have one of the best attacking right-backs we've ever produced, we'll have probably the best right back the world has ever produced," the player-turned-pundit declared. "Because this is a Cafu. This is that level of full-back. This is something unbelievably special.
"And this is an important juncture in his career, where you say right, what does he do? Does he think 'I don't have to do that', 'I don't want to do that'? I would urge him just to work for two months, three months, four months. There might be a negative in him not going to the World Cup.
"But that might be the biggest positive in his career if he has five to six weeks here just literally being coached and working on these things. He's someone I think is absolutely unbelievable."
With the tournament in Qatar now only six weeks away, Alexander-Arnold will at least be given plenty of game-time to impress England manager Gareth Southgate before he selects his 26-man squad. That's because Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp has affirmed that he'll always pick his "exceptional" star.
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"People talk about him not being a good defender, that's not true, he is a good defender, he doesn't always defend good, that's true," Klopp admitted this week. "He's 23. We're working on it. Whatever team I would have at the moment, I would pick Trent.
"He is exceptional. England are blessed with players in this position. Reece James can play three at the back, did that well for Chelsea. It's Gareth's decision. He made it. I see it differently. Doesn't mean it's right or wrong.
"Trent came back not in a party mood, but he accepts the manager's decision because he is extremely bright. The manager decides and more often than not here it is the case he is picked. It's clear, he's a world-class player."
