“I’ll be honest, I was full of hope. When I put the phone down, I was properly gutted.” That is how Trent Alexander-Arnold describes the call from Thomas Tuchel telling him he would not be at the World Cup with England.
He took it at home in Madrid. Family were visiting, so he went to his bedroom to answer. He knew the calls were going out; other players he knew had already had theirs the day before. “Absolutely gutted,” he told the Mirror. “I’d made no plans for my summer because I hoped I’d be in the squad.”
A hard year in Madrid
The right-back left Liverpool for Real Madrid and had a difficult first season in Spain, with injuries and little momentum. His England chances shrank with it. He had played just once under Tuchel, a 26-minute cameo in a 1-0 win over Andorra in June, his last cap, and was an unused substitute in the next friendly against Senegal. Tuchel went with Reece James and Tino Livramento at right-back instead.
Tuchel had been blunt about what he wanted to see. Before naming his 26-man squad, he said Alexander-Arnold sometimes relies heavily on his attacking contribution and gives less emphasis to defensive discipline. “If he wants to have this impact in the English national team, then he has to take the defensive part very seriously,” Tuchel said, adding that in tournament football one defensive error can be “the moment where you pack your suitcases and go home.”
The omission stung again during the tournament. When Livramento was injured, Trevoh Chalobah replaced him, not Alexander-Arnold. England went on to reach the semi-finals.
Still an England player
Alexander-Arnold, 27, says the disappointment has not cooled his commitment. “I hope the coaching staff would expect and understand that I was angry about it,” he said. He also seemed to answer Tuchel’s standards directly: “The manager wants players who are desperate to play for England. I’m one of those.”
“Until I retire, I’m still an England player, whether I’m selected or not. I’m always available if and when the manager needs me. There’s no bigger honour.”
The club picture has not helped. Under new manager Jose Mourinho he was benched for the first match of the season and has started just one league game, with the Portuguese coach seemingly preferring Denzel Dumfries on the right. The first England squad of the new season, for the Nations League, was due to be named on Friday, September 18.
Sources
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Sources
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- Trent Alexander-Arnold was 'full of hope' before… | Liverpool.com
