By Jack Lusby, ThisIsAnfield.com
Alexander-Arnold‘s contract will expire in the summertime and Actual are accelerating their efforts to safe his companies – which incorporates advances within the January switch window.
Whereas it appears unfeasible for Liverpool to half methods with their No. 66 mid-season, given his significance to the aspect and their real probabilities of successful each the Premier League and the Champions League, a departure as a free agent in July can’t be dominated out.
Regardless of of ‘all discuss’ celebrations and his insistence than negotiations wouldn’t be performed out in public can override the sensation that Actual wouldn’t bid in the event that they weren’t assured Alexander-Arnold needed to affix.
It’s unfathomable for supporters who watched their academy graduate develop into the very best on the earth in his place, who himself watched Steven Gerrard prepare by way of the slats within the fences at Liverpool’s Melwood coaching floor with a dream to emulate him and captain the membership.
However Liverpool’s new regime will now be contemplating the very actual prospect they may head into Arne Slot‘s second season in cost with out Alexander-Arnold.
An apparent answer might already be on the membership, with Northern Eire worldwide Conor Bradley nearing No. 2 goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher‘s commonplace as ‘backup far too good to be a backup’.
Bradley, who will flip 22 quickly after Alexander-Arnold’s present deal expires in July, has already performed 40 instances for Liverpool’s first staff, together with 24 begins, and has largely impressed.
It’s not unremarkable that Bradley ended 2024 with extra assists for the Reds than Alexander-Arnold himself, establishing seven targets in 32 appearances final 12 months to his fellow right-back’s six assists in 36.
The younger defender, signed from Dungannon Swifts in 2019, provides a relentless vitality up and down the best flank, as a extra orthodox full-back than the multitalented Alexander-Arnold, who spent a lot of 2024 enjoying in midfield owing to his creativity.
That would play into Liverpool’s palms if their plan is to enter the switch market to exchange Alexander-Arnold – even when their answer is to shift the inventive onus to the left-hand aspect, the place Andy Robertson‘s personal future is in query.
With time showing to meet up with Robertson, who has been at fault for plenty of targets already this season, the membership can also be figuring out a successor to Alexander-Arnold’s partner-in-crime.
This could elevate the prospect of bringing in a brand new inventive hub from both right-back or left-back, or maybe a extra versatile defensive possibility, able to offering metal out extensive in addition to shifting throughout as a 3rd centre-back whereas Bradley pushed on.
Piero Hincapié of Bayer Leverkusen or Jorell Hato of Ajax are prime examples of the latter at left-back, with Slot conversant in the position having employed Dávid Hancko as a hybrid left-back whereas at Feyenoord, whereas Bournemouth’s Milos Kerkez might adapt.
There’s, nevertheless, already convincing proof that Slot’s system is being tailored for all times with out Alexander-Arnold, along with his unparalleled creativity extra of a luxurious than a basic, because it was underneath Júrgen Klopp.
Whereas Klopp’s setup was at instances solely constructed across the distinctive menace of his right-back, Slot has modified the emphasis to the midfield, with a affected person buildup involving an everyday trio of Ryan Gravenberch, Alexis Mac Allister and one in all Dominik Szoboszlai and Curtis Jones.
After all, a lot will be attributed to the superhuman output of Mohamed Salah in Slot’s first half-season, however the goal is clearly to shift gears by way of the midfield – together with a deep-dropping No. 9 – whereas his wingers keep excessive and extensive.
It has proved critically efficient and has seen the burden on Liverpool’s full-backs cut back.
Whereas within the earlier 5 seasons Alexander-Arnold averaged 98.6 touches of the ball per 90 minutes – together with a career-high 105.7 per 90 within the title-winning 2019/20 marketing campaign – that has now dropped to only 77.7 per 90 underneath Slot.
Final time period, he was as concerned as Klopp’s common centre-backs Virgil van Dijk (91.6), Ibrahima Konaté (92.7) and Jarell Quansah (97.3) or extra, averaging 96.1 touches per 90, however now he’s significantly under Van Dijk (87.6) and even Robertson (83.3) this season.
That has not impacted his affect, and actually, final season was the one marketing campaign in his profession that he has averaged extra shot-creating actions from open play than he at present is (3.04 per 90), whereas Alexander-Arnold is main the squad for possibilities created (36), anticipated assists (4.8) and xA per 90 (0.33) on this season’s Premier League.
Nevertheless it at the least demonstrates that Liverpool now depend on him much less.
It’s unlikely that’s on the understanding that Slot would ultimately lose Alexander-Arnold, extra in order that the Dutchman’s system features a extra conventional full-back – which might, once more, work in Bradley’s favour as a attainable successor.
There could be a heat feeling of serendipity if it have been to be Liverpool’s No. 84 taking on as first-choice right-back.
In spite of everything, Bradley is one other boyhood supporter, who first watched the Reds at Anfield in a 4-0 win over Everton throughout the unforgettable 2013/14 season, earlier than occurring to affix the membership and expertise Alexander-Arnold’s rise firsthand.
Whether or not that’s the plan for Slot and the membership’s hierarchy stays to be seen – with the precedence nonetheless being to agree a brand new long-term contract with Alexander-Arnold himself – but it surely actually reveals that Liverpool wouldn’t be solely misplaced with out him.
(Cowl picture from IMAGO)
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