The road from academy prospect to first-team regular is one that only a select few complete. The big clubs in particular are simply not prepared to be patient and wait for a raw teenager to make the grade. The demands are too great, the choices in an increasingly heated transfer market too tantalising. So when one does make a breakthrough it feels only right to take notice and especially when he is curling in free-kicks on his Champions League debut.
Trent Alexander-Arnold could not have scripted it any better had he been sat down in front of a laptop and told to fill his boots. Playing for his boyhood club on their return to European elite competition – albeit, a play-off first leg – the 18-year-old scored a goal that he will be reliving long into his dotage. Standing over the ball 30 yards out and in a central position after Sadio Mané had been fouled outside Hoffenheim’s penalty area by Ermin Bicakcic on 35 minutes, Liverpool’s right-back curled his shot over the wall and into the bottom corner of the net. The ball travelled out-to-in, left Oliver Baumann, the home side’s goalkeeper, shaking his head with despair and the man responsible for the strike in a state of delirium.
A star is born. OK, that may be pushing it but what became apparent on a night in which Liverpool took a long stride towards qualifying for the group stages of the Champions League for the first time in three years is that the club have a bona fide could-be-the-next-big-thing on their hands. For Alexander-Arnold not only shone with the goal that gave the visitors at the Rhein-Neckar-Arena the lead in a game they went on to win 2-1 but also with his all-round performance.
Aside from the moment he allowed Mark Uth the space to pull one back for Julian Nagelsmann’s side three minutes from full-time the teenager was defensively sound while, going forward, he constantly threatened with his athletic runs and clever deliveries. Watching on in his role as TV pundit, Steven Gerrard did not hold back his praise for Alexander-Arnold. “A special performance,” said the former Liverpool captain.
That Gerrard should bear witness to Alexander-Arnold’s best display in a Liverpool shirt since making his first-team debut in a League Cup victory over Tottenham Hotpsur in October was somewhat apt given he remains the last locally born player to establish himself at Anfield having come through the club’s youth ranks. That was close to two decades ago and ever since there has been the yearning, from staff and supporters alike, for another to make the grade. Many have tried but all have ultimately failed – until now, it seems, in the shape of the skinny scouser from West Derby.
It would be unfair and unwise to heap too much pressure on Alexander-Arnold but equally there is no doubting his potential. Having joined the Liverpool academy at the age of six, he represented the club at various age levels before breaking into the first team last season, making 12 appearances under Jürgen Klopp and impressing the manager to such an extent that he persuaded the player to miss England’s ultimately triumphant European Under-19 Championship last month in order to embark on a full pre-season at senior level. The decision proved a wise one with Alexander-Arnold following up an encouraging showing in the opening-day draw at Watford with last night’s standout display.
Nathaniel Clyne no longer looks likely to return to the side after he recovers from his hamstring and back problems and, should Alexander-Arnold maintain his progression, it will provide Liverpool with a source of much needed positivity at a time when the future of Philippe Coutinho remains uncertain and the club’s attempts to bolster a squad short of quality and depth before the close of the transfer window appear to have come to a standstill.
“This kid’s obsessed with improving and getting better on a daily basis,” added Gerrard, now back at Liverpool in his role as Under-18s coach, and on the evidence of last night one thing Alexander-Arnold may have to work on is staying alert for the full 90 minutes. He was badly out of position as Uth collected a long diagonal pass and drove a shot past Simon Mignolet to take some of the sheen off Liverpool’s win before the return at Anfield next Wednesday and after they had gone 2-0 up through an own goal by Havard Nordtveit.
Alexander-Arnold was also booked for dissent but those were ultimately minor negatives on an overwhelmingly positive night in south-west Germany for the player, one in which he had more touches than any of his team-mates (72) and scored his first senior goal in the most stunning and special way possible.
Klopp clearly has faith in Alexander-Arnold. It is now up to him to prove he has longevity to go with all that promise.
