{"id":30135,"date":"2025-04-18T11:54:11","date_gmt":"2025-04-18T11:54:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/30135\/"},"modified":"2025-04-18T11:54:11","modified_gmt":"2025-04-18T11:54:11","slug":"liverpool-legend-identifies-rising-star-as-fantastic-replacement-for-trent-alexander-arnold","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/30135\/","title":{"rendered":"Liverpool legend identifies rising star as ‘fantastic replacement’ for Trent Alexander-Arnold"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

All eyes are now firmly fixed on Trent Alexander-Arnold after both Virgil van Dijk and Mo Salah put pen to paper with Premier League leaders Liverpool this month.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Just days after Salah committed himself to terrorising Premier League backlines<\/a> for at least two more years, captain colossus Van Dijk ended the uncertainty surrounding his own Liverpool future<\/a>.<\/p>\n

While groans can be heard over in Manchester, the sigh of relief emanating from the red side of Stanley Park is palpable.<\/p>\n

The question is, will Trent Alexander-Arnold<\/a> follow suit? Lest we forget, only a couple of weeks ago, Salah looked destined for Saudi Arabia while Paris Saint-Germain reportedly started fluttering their eyelashes in Van Dijk\u2019s direction.<\/p>\n

As of Fabrizio Romano\u2019s latest update earlier this month, however, Alexander-Arnold is still closing in on Real Madrid<\/a>. There is no U-turn forthcoming at this stage.<\/p>\n

Yet, if the Liverpool faithful had been informed that they would be keeping two of Salah, Van Dijk and Alexander-Arnold, most would probably have been willing to accept such an arrangement.<\/p>\n

\"PhotoPhoto by Cameron Smith \u2013 Danehouse\/Getty ImagesSammy Lee backs Connor Bradley to replace Trent Alexander-Arnold at Liverpool<\/p>\n

Whisper it, but Trent may also be the most disposable of the three as well. <\/p>\n

Especially given that Liverpool already appear to have a readymade replacement lined up in-house in the buccaneeringly brilliant Conor Bradley<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cTrent is gonna go,\u201d explains Sammy Lee, a four-time First Division champion with Liverpool in the 1980s. \u201c[But] we have Conor Bradley who we all think is going to be a fantastic, fantastic replacement.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still only 21, Northern Ireland international Bradley has already proven himself more than worthy of taking the place of Liverpool\u2019s West Derby-born academy graduate. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

With Alexander-Arnold unavailable, Bradley delivered a coming-of-age display against Kylian Mbappe<\/a> and Real Madrid in the Champions League first phase.<\/p>\n

Yet, Sammy Lee is quick to warn Liverpool of the risks of a small squad high in quality but low in depth.<\/p>\n

\u201c[Bradley] will need cover,\u201d Lee adds. \u201cThey always want to have options in each and every position. They have got to strengthen in every position. <\/p>\n

\u201cI was with [former Liverpool manager] Gerard Houlier one time in pre-season. He sat us down and he had his formation. And, in each and every position, he had two boxes because he wanted two players for each position. Easier said than done because of cost, but his theory was he wanted cover in every position.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo when I say [Liverpool must] strengthen in every position, that may sound like we are weak in every position. I don\u2019t mean that at all. But you need to have options in every position.\u201d<\/p>\n

Givairo Read and Wesley Franca linked with Anfield moves<\/p>\n

Among the right-backs linked heading into the summer, the agent of Juventus flyer Andrea Cambiaso played down<\/a> a potential switch to England\u2019s north west. Cambiaso has his sights fixed on dragging Juve back to the summit of Serie A.<\/p>\n

Arne Slot could return to Feyenoord for Givairo Read<\/a>. A Dutch teenager who, while providing seven assists this term, continues to showcase the kind of wicked deliveries from out wide that Alexander-Arnold has long since made his trademark.<\/p>\n

Flamengo expect to lose the Liverpool-linked Wesley Franca<\/a>, too, amid claims that the newly-capped Brazil international is valued at an affordable \u00a325 million.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I arrived at Flamengo, Wesley already had some offers on the table,\u201d director Jose Boto explains. \u201cReally, with the way he plays now, with the needs of the European market, it will not be easy for him to stay here after the summer window.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, we are already working to be prepared for [Wesley\u2019s departure] if that happens. But of course, that will only happen if the clubs are willing to pay what we think Wesley is worth at the moment, which is quite high.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are not many right-backs in the world with the technical ability and speed that he has. We have a value in our head, the player\u2019s staff knows it, the player knows it.\u201d<\/p>\n

This weekend\u2019s Leicester City clash may come too soon for Trent Alexander-Arnold<\/a> \u2013 he has been out of action for a month \u2013 but it is understood that Liverpool\u2019s number 66 could be back in time to face Tottenham Hotspur on April 27th.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"All eyes are now firmly fixed on Trent Alexander-Arnold after both Virgil van Dijk and Mo Salah put…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":30136,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8815],"tags":[748,8928,393,4884,179,18019,8935,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-30135","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-liverpool","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-conor-bradley","10":"tag-england","11":"tag-great-britain","12":"tag-liverpool","13":"tag-sammy-lee","14":"tag-trent-alexander-arnold","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114358836516294723","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30135","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30135"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30135\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30136"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30135"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30135"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30135"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}