Pep Lijnders has explained why he believes Trent Alexander-Arnold is a future Liverpool captain.
After a season of highs and lows, the 22-year-old showed incredible resilience to fight his way back into the England squad prior to Euro 2020.
An impressive end to the campaign, in which he played a key role in helping his side finish third, was rewarded when Alexander-Arnold was named in Gareth Southgate’s 26-man squad for the Euros.
But disaster struck for the full-back when he was ruled out of the tournament after picking up a thigh in the Three Lions’ warm up fixture against Austria.
However, the Reds star has since returned to action and Lijnders believes due to Alexander-Arnold's 'one club' mentality, he is a future captain of the club.
“We’ve had some of the lads who were injured at the end of last season back with us, including Trent Alexander-Arnold,” the Dutchman wrote in his Liverpoolfc.com column.
“I’m so proud of Trent. He was this natural technical talent when he was just 15 years old.
"He had all the characteristics I loved: a mentality to win, passionate to improve but his emotions sometimes took control instead of him taking control over the emotions. He trained with so much power and competition.
“He grew step by step into the wonderful guy he is now, surrounded by a lovely family, he created this superb personality.
“He has this aggression in a positive way. If someone represents this quote of Bill Shankly it’s him: playing at the highest level isn’t pressure, it’s a reward.
“I still see the same fire in his eyes in each training, but I don’t see this young guy anymore; I see a leader, I see someone who controls his emotions, a future captain.
“A leader by example. The best clubs have one thing in common, a ‘one club’ mentality. The culture spreads through all departments. It’s great that our talents, the real ones, can make these steps together with our team.”
While Lijnders has once again offered an insight into training and revealed how Takumi Minamino is currently catching the eye.
He said: “Harvey played some outstanding last passes, Mo and Sadio were deadly in the finish, Taki was on fire as well and Joel had his Brazilian boots on again.
“Coaching is about simplifying things, making it easier for the players, so we spoke about the timing of the pass, to adapt your movement to the player who has the ball. Football smartness. Common sense practice, not complicating things.”
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