Former Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has revealed that his favourite ever ‘signing’ was bringing Trent Alexander-Arnold into the first team from the academy.
Whilst not technically a signing, since making the jump up to the Reds’ senior team, Alexander-Arnold, 26, has developed into one of the best defenders in world football, and is also considered one of the English top flight’s best passers of a ball.
Klopped Named Alexander-Arnold His ‘Favourite’ Signing
Klopp, who joined Liverpool in 2015, and stepped down from his managerial role at the club at the end of the 2023/24 season, has been hailed as one of the greatest managers to have ever graced the Premier League since its formation in 1992, having won 209 of his 334 league meetings.
In his nine-year spell at Anfield, the German oversaw 45 signings, including those of Mohamed Salah, Alisson Becker, and Virgil van Dijk. But his favourite of them all was one that didn’t cost the club any transfer fee at all – because he was already at the club in the youth team.
The former Liverpool manager revealed on the Pure Football Podcast, via SportBible, that it was his assistant, Pep Lijnders, who first brought the then-teenage Alexander-Arnold to his attention, having showcased positional versatility at academy level, with their only concerns at the time being that his fitness levels were not quite up to scratch.
When asked who his favourite Liverpool signing was over the years, he said:
It’s Trent [Alexander-Arnold]. We didn’t have to buy him but Pep Lijnders, my assistant, brought him around and said: ‘He played No.6 [role] for me. He played full-back, he played right wing, left wing’. Then he came and there was only one problem: Trent was not fit enough. But he was a kid so he was not fit enough, but we saw immediately, wow, football-wise, no doubts. But [he was] not fit enough so we had to work on that. But then he made steps by himself that were really unbelievable and that was really nice to see. Then he made mistakes and didn’t give up.
Since being handed his senior debut in 2016, the England international has gone on to make 331 appearances for Liverpool, 57 of which have come in the Champions League, which he helped his team to win in 2019. While he did complete all 90 minutes in the final, it was his quick-thinking from a corner in the semi-final against Lionel Messi and Barcelona which helped the Reds overcome a 3-0 deficit in the first-leg to win 4-3 on aggregate that will be most remembered.
In his Premier League career, Alexander-Arnold has recorded 15 goals and 62 assists in 241 league appearances, most of his assists of which have come from the right-back position, where he has showcased his exquisite technical ability when crossing the ball to his teammates to latch onto, and more often than not, finding the target.
Now in his ninth season with the club, Alexander-Arnold’s future at Anfield is uncertain with his contract due to expire at the end of the 2024/25 campaign. The world-class right-back has been linked to a move to Europe, with Spanish juggernauts, Real Madrid having shown huge interest in bringing the star to the Santiago Bernabeu. Whether the 26-year-old will leave his boyhood club to join Los Blancos, though, still remains to be seen.
Leave a Reply