Speaking on BT Sport’s coverage of Liverpool vs Real Madrid (15/4/21 8PM Kick-off), Gary Lineker has claimed that Liverpool ace Trent Alexander-Arnold is too good to be playing as a full-back.
The right-back has proven himself to be one of the best creators in world football in recent years, and Lineker believes that his talents are wasted in his current position.
“I just think he’s too good to be a full-back,” Lineker said.
Rio Ferdinand then added: “He’s got every club in the bag.
“We’ve seen Cancelo at Man City do it this season, we’ve seen Kimmich do it, Lahm’s done it, switched positions. Has he got the ability to do it?
“He was a midfielder as a kid, so I believe he has. It’s all about the manager and the structure of the team. But I don’t see Klopp switching him from a full-back.
“I understand the shouts for him to do midfield. But at the same time, when he has the ball, he only has people from his left side coming and pressuring him a lot of the time.”
This is certainly an interesting point of view, and it’s not the first time we’ve heard this claim.
The old adage goes, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, and we can’t help but feel that this rule applies to Alexander-Arnold.
Yes, he’s much more creative than you’d expect a full-back to be, but in Liverpool’s system the full-backs are often the chief creators, and if he was put into midfield or even onto the wing, he wouldn’t be able to have the same effect.
Time will tell whether or not Jurgen Klopp decides to change his role, but at the moment, it’s hard for us to understand why he’d want to.
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