It has not taken long for the local press in the Spanish capital to question the impact of Trent Alexander-Arnold at Real Madrid. The former Liverpool right-back also has Dani Carvajal hot on his heels for a starting spot.
The 26-year-old arrived in early June from Liverpool for €10m, after Los Blancos had already agreed a six-year deal with Alexander-Arnold. With Carvajal still recovering from a cruciate ligament injury, Alexander-Arnold’s presence was seen as sufficiently key to pay in order to bring him in for the Club World Cup. Alonso is planning to have him as his regular starter.
Alexander-Arnold ‘too timid’ according to press
Alexander-Arnold started five of Real Madrid’s six games in the Club World Cup, and managed to give two assists in the knockout stages against Borussia Dortmund and Juventus. A muscle injury kept him out of the semi-final against Paris Saint-Germain, and Marca admit that he showed his quality on the ball in the United States, albeit in a tournament of peaks and troughs for the England international.
However they note that a theme of his game in their La Liga opener against Osasuna, during which Alexander-Arnold managed 77 touches, but lost the ball 15 times, that he was too timid in possession. Los Blancos controlled the ball, with Alexander-Arnold often stepping into midfield, but the Madrid daily noted that he almost always took the conservative pass.
Dani Carvajal challenge imminent
Meanwhile Carvajal was given a rapturous reception from the Bernabeu, and looked sharp and smooth on the ball when he came on for the final 22 minutes. The captain was very much looking to stake his claim for the starting spot again.
“I will go into the competition as I have in other moments of my career. The more competition I’ve faced, the more I’ve performed. It’s a huge challenge that will make us both better players.”
Alexander-Arnold has played just six games under Alonso, but it won’t take long before the pressure to perform arrives at his door, fairly or not.
Remember – the entire way of playing the game is now different under Xabi. Besides learning the new system, Trent would be playing under concise instructions from his manager (similar to other players). Trent and Dani have different approaches but I’m pretty sure having your right back frequently appear in the penalty box (Dani) is not part of most modern systems (except maybe Inzaghi’s). Trent is doing fine and will grow into the system like the others. Marca is a political tool to push an agenda. They hardly do any real football journalism… and definitely have a bias against foreign players. They are trying to support 35yo Carvajal but are too dumb to realise that the instability they are causing to Trent will disrupt his adaptation and that instability is Real Madrid’s instability. Injuries happen to older players when they are pushing their bodies to do what they did when they were younger. Barcelona has young players on that flank… I’d back the 27yo LB to adapt quicker over the 35yo.