Speaking on the ITV Football Show, Andros Townsend has given his verdict on Liverpool’s Trent Alexander-Arnold being snubbed by Gareth Southgate after he was left out of the latest England squad.
The Crystal Palace winger was speaking about the latest England side, and his co-host Mark Pougatch was talking about the notable absence of Alexander-Arnold from the squad.
Pougatch made the point that Alexander-Arnold had been out of form for quite some time, and while Townsend agreed on that point, he said his exclusion still surprised him.
“Yes but I still didn’t see it coming, you could have said any of the other right-backs missed out and I would have said ok fair enough, but Trent, I thought he was the number one right-back for the next six or seven years. So to see him miss out on an important squad two or three months before a major tournament it really knocked me for six I have to be honest,” Townsend said.
To be fair, Townsend is right, this was surprising.
Alexander-Arnold hasn’t been at his very best this season, that much is quite obvious, but before this latest squad announcement, it would have been hard to imagine him being dropped.
With the Euros just a few months away, we have to wonder whether or not he’ll be selected for the tournament.
The Three Lions have a terrific amount of depth at right-back, with the likes of Reece James, Kieran Trippier, Matty Cash and even Aaron Wan-Bissaka battling for a spot, but over the past few years Alexander-Arnold has been the pick of the bunch.
Fingers crossed the Liverpool right-back can get back to his best sooner rather than later.
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