Liverpool scout says he knew Trent Alexander-Arnold would be a star when he was just 7

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Speaking on the Leg It Podcast, Liverpool scout Ian Barrigan has told the story of when he realised Trent Alexander-Arnold would be a first-teamer at Liverpool.

Remarkably, the Reds star was just seven years old when Barrigan had this realisation.

It wasn’t a trademark whipped cross or a fantastic free-kick that made the scout earmark the 22-year-old as a future star, instead it was a cynical foul on a breakaway from a corner.

“I always remember a game though, we were four or five nil up, and then Trent used to take the mick a little bit, so we’d take him off or put him at the back because he’d dominate games.” Barrigan said (Leg It podcast 44:00).

“I remember we got a corner and Trent went ‘can I take the corner? Can I take the corner?’ I said to Trent, ‘yeah you can, but if they score, it’s your fault.’”

Barrigan went on to talk about Trent as a person, before completing the story about the corner.

“He was unbelievably competitive, you’ve never met anyone like him.

“So he took the corner, anyway he took the corner and this kid gets an unbelievable header, and heads it out, he heads it dead far, it’s only a small pitch, but it bounces about two yards off the halfway line, and the striker is like that.

“Next thing you know you see Trent running from the corner trying to get back, next thing the kid just gets ahead of Trent and then Trent just goes and rips him up.

“He took him out, and he’s only seven, you’re thinking his game understanding is unbelievable, I just went to his Mum and said ‘I’m telling you now hat kid will play for the first-team.’”

Trent Alexander-Arnold is one of the greatest finds in English football in the last decade, and Barrigan is the man that discovered him.

The fact that Liverpool employ someone who can see that type of talent at such a young age bodes so well for the club’s future.

However, the fact that it was this moment, a foul to stop a counter-attack that caught Barrigan’s eye is incredibly interesting, and it just shows a level of understanding about the game many of us don’t quite have.

It’s an interesting insight into how academy scouting works, and it quite clearly works well as Alexander-Arnold is one of the best full-backs in the world right now, with Lionel Messi even being impressed by his talent.