Trent John Alexander-Arnold (born 7 October 1998) is an English football player who plays as a right-back. He plays for Liverpool, one of the Premier League teams. He was promoted to the A team from Liverpool Infrastructure in 2016. He won Liverpool's best young player of the season award in the 2016-17 season.
Trent Alexander-Arnold vividly remembers the moment as a child when he decided what he wanted to do in the future. At the age of seven, he was going to watch Liverpool at Anfield for the first time in his life: “It was the Juventus match in the Champions League, the year must have been 2005, it was a perfect night. "From the first moment I walked into the stadium, I knew I wanted to play for Liverpool."
Such a goal is just a pipe dream for many seven-year-old children around the world. But for Trent, who was born in Liverpool and joined Liverpool's youth team at the age of six, the outcome of this goal was never in doubt: “It never crossed my mind that I wouldn't succeed. "I didn't say 'I will definitely succeed', but I never thought I wouldn't succeed."
Trent John Alexander-Arnold (born 7 October 1998) is an English professional footballer who plays for Premier League club Liverpool and the England national team. Considered one of the best right-backs in the world, he is known for his range of passing, crossing and assists. Owing to such capabilities, he has also occasionally been deployed as a midfielder for both club and country.
What makes the career of the Liverpool and England national team right-back extraordinary is how long it took him to achieve all these goals. At the age of 21, he is a UEFA Champions League, Premier League, FIFA Club World Cup and UEFA Super Cup champion and a Ballon d'Or candidate.
Moreover, he even managed to get his name written in the Guinness World Records book, thanks to his reputation for creating goal opportunities for his teammates and for completely renewing his right-back position. Perhaps all of this is a fruit of the incredible hours he has spent playing football from a young age: “Me and my brothers have definitely played close to 10,000 hours of football to get to this level.”
Three boys and a ball
“When I think about it now, what we were doing was really unhealthy,” laughs Trent, considering the time he spent playing football with his brothers. Trent, who says that he first played football with his oldest brother Tyler in the garden and on the streets, states that both of their endless hunger for football later found a place wherever it could be played: “We would play football in any possible weather, at any time of the day, in any possible location.” There was nothing else we did during the day. If it rained, we would make a castle out of foils and a ball out of socks in the hallway of the house. "Anything we could do to play football, we would use it to play."
But when Trent came to the attention of the Liverpool youth coaches at the age of six, his brothers had to quench their love for football and give Trent the space to showcase his talents: “We all wanted to play football, but my brothers gave up their own dreams to make mine come true. Even now, I cannot explain to myself why my older brother could not go to his school games when he was young and took me to training. The same goes for my brother. "No matter how much I thank them, it will not be enough."
Talent detection
It was pure luck that the Liverpool-born young man was also known in the city's team: “Liverpool was organizing a half-term trial camp for kids in my age group. And at that time, my school received invitations for seven or eight students. Luckily, the age range determined by the club was exactly my age. When the invitations arrived and the classroom teacher asked who wanted to go, of course, every male in the class raised his hand. Therefore, the fairest way to choose the name to go would be to choose a name at random, and by chance, my name came out of that list.”
It wouldn't take long for Liverpool to realize this chance and use it: "10-15 minutes after the first training session, someone from the club went to my mother and said, 'We would be very happy if Trent could come to training three days on weekdays and two days on the weekend.'"
Little sacrifices
As Trent entered his teenage years, he had to make other choices to accommodate the family's increasingly demanding training schedule: “Liverpool had suggested I go to school part-time, but my mum refused. At the end of the day, my mother and my father made the decision to change schools together. They asked me if I was really serious and my answer was obvious. They then spoke to the academy and said they were not sure this change was necessary. When they asked, 'Is it worth it?', the club's answer was 'Yes'.”
Boom season
In September 2018, Trent recorded his first assist against Southampton, breaking the Premier League record for assists made by a defender in a season. (He had his name written in the Guinness Book of Records with 17 assists in all tournaments that season.)
Liverpool's right-back is engraved in the minds of everyone in the world with what he has done so far, but there is one of these memories that no one will forget easily: the second match against Barcelona at Anfield. With the total score at 3-3, Trent first went to the ball to take the corner but then moved away. Until he saw the disorganization of Barcelona's defense and his teammate Divock Origi away. This deadly ball, which he threw in six passes, resulted in a goal by Origi seconds later.
And with this goal, Liverpool opened the door to the final wide: “It was a night beyond dreams for everyone. Not only the match but also what we went through and the experiences we gained throughout the tournament..."