The manager of Liverpool football club, Jurgen Klopp has noted that he did not understand why the head coach of England, Gareth Southgate, did not invite Trent Alexander-Arnold to the national team.
Trent Alexander-Arnold made his debut for the Three Lions of England at the tender age of 19 on June 7, 2018. Ever since then, the 22-year-old right-back has made 12 appearances and has scored a goal.
The England international is regarded as one of the best right-backs in the world especially after helping Liverpool to win the 2018-2019 UEFA Champions League, UEFA Super Cup, and FIFA Club World Cup. He was also instrumental in helping Liverpool to win the Premier League for the first time in 30 years last season.
However, the 2020-2021 season has not been rosy for him because he started the season with a coronavirus infection which played a part in his game time and form. Despite that, Jurgen Klopp was able to use the right-back 27 times in the Premier League in which he scored a goal and provided three assists.
This means that the right-back only missed out from two Premier League games so far this season and has about 9 league games to continue to prove himself ahead of Euros.
Besides the league, Alexander-Arnold has played 6 times in the Champions League in which he scored 2 goals. He made one appearance in the FA Cup before Liverpool were knocked out of the tournament.
Despite all these appearances the 22-year-old right-back has made for Liverpool this season, England’s head coach did not invite him for the FIFA World Cup qualification match against San Marino which ended 5-0 in favor of England, the match against Albania which ended 0-2 in favor of England, and against Poland which ended 2-1 in favor of the Three Lions.
The three wins in the three World Cup qualification matches give England the leadership of group I with 9 points, two points above second-placed Hungary.
Ahead of Liverpool’s league game against Arsenal which is scheduled to take place today, April 3, at 20:00, Jurgen Klopp was asked to comment on the omission of Alexander-Arnold in England’s squad, and the German tactician said he was surprised that the right-back wasn’t invited.
“I was surprised when he didn’t get the call-up. I respect the decision, of course, I do. But I didn’t understand it,” said Jurgen Klopp.
“I am a manager myself, I make decisions every day, every weekend, every midweek about team selections and squad selections. We always make decisions that other people probably do not understand.
“If Trent Alexander-Arnold is not in the squad of England then England must have an extremely good squad, let me say it like this.
“I have no problem if my players get some criticism. They can get it from me, they can get it from other people.
“I respect that Gareth makes his own decisions, of course, but I didn’t understand it anyway because Trent Alexander-Arnold was in the last two seasons at least, let me say the season before and the season before that, the stand out right-back in world football – that is the truth and at an unbelievable young age.
“He started the season with Covid and you can imagine it took him a while to get into the season, but from the moment when he was in the season, he was one of our most consistent players and a stand-out player.
“He could play all the time, high level all these types of things, so that cannot be the reason that he was not in the squad.
“If you compare Lionel Messi every year with his best season ever then he is not performing now like he was performing in 2005 and 2006 maybe but he is still the world’s best player.”
Hard work in the sun 😁☀️ pic.twitter.com/qXdQlJDyeJ
— Trent Alexander-Arnold (@TrentAA) March 29, 2021
