This season has been something of a challenge thus far for Trent Alexander-Arnold. So important to the success of Liverpool in recent years, the 23-year-old has had criticism levelled at him so far this campaign over the perceived deficiencies in his game, with the Reds' stumbling start and defensive issues doing little to remove the scrutiny.
Omitted from by Gareth Southgate from the England side that drew 3-3 with Germany last month and now no longer considered a shoo-in for the Three Lions squad that will head to the World Cup in Qatar next month, Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp gave a robust defence of his right back, stating that the 'exceptional' West Derby-born defender's impact at the Reds has been 'extreme'.
Questions over whether Alexander-Arnold should be deployed in a midfield role remain among some, although Klopp has appeared to remain steadfast in his view that Alexander-Arnold's best position is right-back. Former Manchester United defender and current Sky Sports pundit Gary Neville claimed on Monday Night Football that if the Liverpool defender addressed the 'imbalances' that exist in his game he can be as good as Brazil legend Cafu.
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Said Neville: "This is a Cafu-level of full-back. This is something unbelievably special. No full-back that I have ever seen in this country can do what he can do."
It is Alexander-Arnold's effectiveness higher up the pitch that has proven to be so vital to Liverpool's success under Klopp, and while he may have started to face criticism from some quarters over elements of his game defensively this season it has done little to diminish the financial value that he holds.
According to insights from respected industry analysts at Football Benchmark, whose use a number of metrics and data analysis to determine the market valuation of players globally, Alexander-Arnold remains Liverpool's most valuable player in terms of his market value, and the only defender in world football that appears in the top 10.
Football Benchmark have Alexander-Arnold in the overall list as of the end of September, the right back valued at €107.6m (£94m). Since the previous report in July, Football Benchmark have marked down his value by €5.4m (£4.7m), the second largest drop in value among the top 10 after Kylian Mbappe, the most valuable at €222.9m (£194.6m) lost €7.2m (£6.2m) in value during the same period.
The five players ahead of Alexander-Arnold in the list include widely reported Liverpool target Jude Bellingham, who has a value of €125.1m (£190.2m), a rise of £7.8m since July, after the Borussia Dortmund midfielder's superb start to the season.
The rest of the top five is made up of Real Madrid's Vinicius Jr in fourth (£119.4m), Manchester City pair Phil Foden (£119.4) and Erling Haaland (£144.6m) and Mbappe. Haaland's remarkable start to life in the Premier League has seen his value increase by £19m since the summer.
The other Liverpool players to appear in the top 50 are Mohamed Salah (12th and valued at £83m), Luis Diaz (19th and valued at £77.9m), Darwin Nunez (35th and valued at £71m) and Diogo Jota (45th and valued at £65.7m).
In terms of overall squad market value, Football Benchmark places Liverpool at second on the list with a squad value of €997m (£870.4m), with Manchester City's squad value at £1.1bn despite five fewer players factored into the squad list compared to the Reds.
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