The notoriously ruthless newspaper Marca has come out Trent Alexander-Arnold after another miserable defensive performance for Real Madrid. At the same time, we can confirm Liverpool’s attitude towards bringing him back to England and as we know, Manchester City are following the situation closely.
Marca – often known as Real Madrid’s unofficial mouthpiece in the media – will do everything they can to tilt external issues in Los Blancos’ favour. But when it comes to reporting on those who are already at the club, they are never slow to deliver jabs.
Read: Chelsea willing to pay €100 million for striker Bodø/Glimt defence effectively stopped
It’s no secret that this summer’s signing, Alexander-Arnold, excels in the offensive parts of the game, but struggles with the defensive elements.
At 27, these aspects of his game are deadlocked, and it’s too late in the day for Alexander-Arnold to suddenly become a defensive wall.
Still, after another weak defensive performance in Real’s narrow 2-1 win over Celta Vigo on Friday night, Marca did not hold back with his comments.
Celtica’s equaliser in the first half came on Alexander-Arnold’s side, with the full-back outplayed in speed, fighting physically, and spinning around in the same sequence of play.
Real Madrid would secure a late winner in injury time through captain Federico Valverde, but Marca did not hold back when they mentioned Alexander-Arnold.
The Spanish newspaper Alexander-Arnold is described as “perplexed” and “confused”.
They added: “Oh my goodness, what a defensive performance by the Englishman on that goal. If you can call it defensive at all. Slow, out of position, and then perplexed inside the box.
This is Trent, the one who made it 1-1, played very poorly defensively, and also the one who played forward Vinicius Jr on the shot that hit the post.
Whether he has the ball or not, it’s a whole different story.”
At halftime, the newspaper added: “He contributes a lot in attack, but also takes a lot in defence. He was incredibly weak on Celtica’s equaliser.
[Williot] Swedberg got past him, then he lost his position in the race, he couldn’t cut in and gave away a backward pass that Borja Iglesias took advantage of.
His overall performance included a ‘spoiled’ goal both defensively and offensively, a great long ball that played forward Vinicius in a one-on-one situation with [Ionut] Radu.”
Did Alexander-Arnold coach back to England?
It’s been a difficult first season in Spain for Alexander-Arnold, and back in February, sources told our insider, Graeme Bailey, that Manchester City are keeping a close eye on the player’s situation.
City are looking for a fully developed and impactful reinforcement at right-back at the end of the season. Newcastle’s Tino Livramento is admired, as is Alexander-Arnold.
At this point, you may be wondering what Liverpool’s stance is on bringing the defender back if his stay at Real is shortened.
We can confirm that Liverpool have NO intention whatsoever of bringing Alexander-Arnold back to Anfield, and they would not interfere in the situation if Man City made a move.
Instead, Liverpool are more than happy with Jeremie Frimpong and Conor Bradley, who, provided they keep the injuries away, will lock in Liverpool’s right-back position for most of the next decade.
Read on F7: HBO’s new Harry Potter series has caught the eye of a Marvel star playing Voldemort
