Tuesday 26 December 2017 07:30, UK
Johnny Phillips talks to Trent Alexander-Arnold about his contrasting roles in Liverpool’s defence and the wider community around Anfield.
"Both of them can play. We still play now whenever we get the chance in the back garden and still come in and make a mess around the house."
Trent Alexander-Arnold is talking about the times with his two brothers, Tyler and Marcel. The three of them spent hour after hour kicking a ball together whilst growing up in the family home in West Derby, just around the corner from Liverpool's Melwood training base. The Liverpool youngster is no doubt that his two siblings have played a huge role in his development.
"I think both of them really helped me develop skills that I didn't really know I was developing at the time. I was working on things I didn't realise, I was just having fun. But at the same time it was working and training hard without even knowing it. I think a lot goes down to them for how I am now."
Alexander-Arnold is so well thought of at Anfield that supporters and staff are equally excited about his prospects. His impressive rise through the ranks has come at a pace that has taken aback even those who watched him in Liverpool's academy, the place he joined at just six-years-old.
At 16, Alexander-Arnold was captaining the U18 side. In October last year, manager Jurgen Klopp decided he was ready for first team football, picking him to start in a League Cup fourth-round tie at home to Tottenham.
"It was an incredible moment and it was like a family thing," Alexander-Arnold recalls. "I think everyone in the family felt how I was feeling on that day. They felt the nerves, the anticipation, the joy - everything. The relief after the game. We all went through those emotions together. It was a family thing."
He came through that test and was trusted with an even bigger game for his first Premier League start, a 1-1 draw away at Manchester United in January. That Old Trafford outing was one of 12 appearances last season and it was no surprise to see him named Liverpool's Young Player of the Season in May.
What is immediately apparent when spending any time in the 19-year-old's company is how grounded and focused he remains. Not for one second is there any suggestion from the player himself that he has 'made it'.
"You can never be satisfied with anything in football because there's always someone trying to stop you getting to where you want to go," he explains. "If you take your foot off the gas there's always someone who wants to take your spot. So it's important you don't do that. Every day when I was told I was going to train with the first team I used to take it day by day.
"Even the coaching staff at Melwood helped a few of us because they didn't tell us that, 'You're going to be up here for four weeks.' They'd say, 'Yeah you're coming back tomorrow.' So every day you'd go onto the pitch not knowing if you'd be back at the academy or you'd be staying. So you left everything out on the pitch and that's what I've really taken with me; to train every day like it's your last training session."
Alexander-Arnold has found a place at full-back under Klopp, but it is only in the last couple of years he has been given a run in any position, such is his versatility.
"I didn't really have a position when I was younger, I just used to play where the manager told me to play. Because I was quick I'd play out on the wing or even up front, or sometimes in midfield. Once I reached about 14 or 15 I started to steady myself and get into a midfield role and carried that on until I was 17. Then I dropped into right-back and I have played there ever since."
So is that the preferred position now?
"I haven't got a preferred position, no. I just feel that for the time being it is definitely right-back and that's the position I need to focus on the most. Every time I get a chance to learn and develop skills in that position I do that. The role I play is defending so you've got to be doing that first and foremost. The better you can get it will help the team and help you progress and I work on that every day."
It was not so long ago that the only trips to Anfield involved walking through the turnstiles to a seat in the stands. On the few occasions he could get to the ground as a kid it was the Champions League nights that left the biggest impression.
"It's hard to describe the atmosphere, with the floodlights on, and the pitch just looked like carpet. It is hard to explain. It was everything I ever dreamed of, those Champions League nights at Anfield."
So to then go and score on his debut in the competition, away at Hoffenheim, was surely another dream realised. "Yeah, again, being there on those Champions League nights and knowing how much it means to the fans, because there's definitely something special about Liverpool and the Champions League. To be back in that competition and to be in the knockout stage is really good for the whole club going forward."
A short walk from Anfield, on Breck Road, is a small shop unit. It is the base for An Hour For Others, a community organisation founded by painter and decorator Kevin Morland and his partner Gill Watkins three years ago.
Over time, local people and businesses here have got involved and come together to help many of the most vulnerable in society; elderly living alone, families coping with illness and bereavement, children living in poverty or being bullied at school. Alexander-Arnold is good friends with Watkins' nephew and has become an ambassador for the organisation.
"It helps in any way it can. With young people and youth clubs' activities. It helps with parents who need cooking and support like that. The name An Hour For Others - you give an hour of a day up to help another person who is less fortunate in whatever way they need it. If everyone comes together for an hour a day then it will make someone's life a lot better."
The organisation has refurbished homes and community centres and donated thousands of pounds worth of clothes, toys and food, including presents every Christmas.
"Trent only last week gave up three hours of his time to come with us to deliver food hampers and visit a school and a community centre," Morland explains. "He really is a breath of fresh air in today's game and, for such a young lad, he cares so much about the city.
"He knows how hard it can be for kids growing up and understands how lucky he is to be in the position he's in. He wants to be a role model to them and make a difference in their lives."
As a footballer you have a really influential role in the city. So to be able to influence young people to give an hour up of your day to go and help someone else is not much.
Alexander-Arnold is quick to add that he gets as much out of it as he puts in. "It's always great to see someone's life change for the better and to be involved in something like that is really uplifting for me."
Liverpool's community work is an important part of the club's identity, but to see a young footballer take it upon himself to get involved in an external organisation is refreshing.
"As a footballer you have a really influential role in the city," Alexander-Arnold adds. "So to be able to influence young people to give an hour up of your day to go and help someone else is not much. And you can do it any day you want. It's good to be involved in such an amazing organisation."
As a Liverpudlian, Alexander-Arnold is well-placed to take a lead role in community projects. He is also aware of the fans' hopes for him on the pitch. With Jamie Carragher and Steven Gerrard long gone, the team's local heartbeat has faded.
"When I was growing up it was always good to see local lads come through," he adds. "As a fan it makes you that bit more proud when they are Scousers. But you can't expect to play just because you're a Scouser. You've got to fight for your place and that's what I'm trying to do."
Trent Alexander-Arnold was speaking during a visit to Maricourt School in Maghull at a PlayStation Schools Cup event, the biggest grassroots football tournament in England.
Catch Johnny Phillips' full interview with Trent Alexander-Arnold on Soccer Saturday on Boxing Day.
