Agent: Trent Alexander-Arnold's 'arrogance' the reason for Liverpool struggles

James Shearman

• 10 Sep 2022 08:23 CDT
• 3 min read

Football agent Rob Segal believes Trent Alexander-Arnold's 'arrogance' is the reason for his poor form at Liverpool this season.

The right-back, who was previously touted as the best in the world, has been at fault for a number of the goals The Reds have conceded in recent weeks.

Indeed, Alexander-Arnold was heavily criticised for his dismal performance in Liverpool's 4-1 defeat to Napoli on Wednesday.

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Despite being a Premier League and Champions League winner, the 23-year-old has always struggled defensively, but Segal has an idea why he has been so deficient in that regard lately.

''Liverpool have major injury problems which haven’t helped and a player like Trent Alexander-Arnold probably needs a prolonged rest,'' Segal told CaughtOffside.

''However, because of his standing within the club, you can feel his arrogance when he is slowly running back to goal. Alexander-Arnold knows that no matter what he does, right or wrong, he is likely to start week in, week out.

''It is no secret that Alexander-Arnold is a lot better going forward than he is defensively, so his weaknesses need to be covered and unfortunately for Klopp, at the moment, none of his side’s backline are playing particularly well. The timing of their drop-off in form has been really unfortunate.''

Liverpool do have another option at right-back, though, and it could be time for Jurgen Klopp to give youngster Calvin Ramsay a chance.

How good is Calvin Ramsay?

Ramsay's previous club Aberdeen rated him an 'elite' young player. "There are not many right-backs at his age like him, doing what he does,'' Chairman Dave Cormack said.

''Look at the data - he is in the elite upper bracket, right up there, for a young right-back in Europe.''

Ramsay burst onto the Scottish football scene towards the end of the 2020-21 campaign, when the defender was given a handful of starts in the Scottish Premiership split and in Aberdeen’s Scottish Cup run.

That was seemingly enough for new manager Stephen Glass to promote Ramsay to the first team as a regular starter.

And the young Scot remained an ever-present member of the Dons starting XI in the 2021-22 campaign. Indeed, he was named the Scottish Football Writers’ Association Young Player of the Year in April.

The 19-year-old thrives when given space to run into with and without the ball, which is shown in his healthy assist count.

Whether as a full-back or a more advanced wing-back, Ramsay has more than enough energy to trouble most teams.