Gary Neville has admitted that Liverpool’s Trent Alexander-Arnold could become the best right-back of all time.
Trent starred for the Reds in their draw with Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium.
The right-back adopted his usual position in Jurgen Klopp’s system, regularly moving from the flanks into midfield, and scored Liverpool’s equaliser
Neville compared Alexander-Arnold’s ability with the ball to Man City’s absent midfield talisman:
Neville
“Manchester City had a player injured today in Kevin De Bruyne who is world class in terms of delivery, striking of a ball and his passing.
"Trent Alexander-Arnold is the equal of him and he’s a right-back,”
Neville was impressed by the 25-year-old’s performance against Man City but believes he still has plenty of room for improvement.
Neville added
“All he has to be as a defender is sort of semi-competent, he doesn’t have to be the best right-back in the world defensively,”
“You don’t expect him to be [Cesar] Azpilicueta, who was the opposite, in terms of being a defensive right-back, Ivanovic or a Kyle Walker. He doesn’t have to be that."
“What he does have to be is not a liability and there have been times in the last three or four years where that has been a standout feature of Liverpool’s big games, where he’s been too easy to beat and too easy to get at.”
Neville admitted
“His performances on the ball are absolutely out of this world. The difference between me and him is night and day. I can’t even relate to what he’s doing on the pitch,”
“He’s playing in central midfield for 50-60% of it, he’s going forward scoring goals, he’s setting up goals and assists. He’s achieving numbers that right wingers don’t achieve.
“He’s got the material to be the very best right-back of all-time.
"But he’s going to have to be a little bit more serious about his defending because currently he struggles to get into the England team - or he has struggled.
"He will need to, when Liverpool and England are under the cosh, be able to be a resilient, tough defensive player as well.
“That’s something I think he can add to his game. I don’t give up on the fact that he can be a very good defender.
"I think defending is not that difficult to learn compared to the bit of his game that he has got.”
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