It’s fair to say that Roy Keane has aired some typically forthright opinions about Trent Alexander-Arnold in the past!
After the Liverpool right-back struggled in the 2-2 draw against Manchester United in January in the wake of a reported offer from Real Madrid, the Sky Sports pundit blasted the 26-year-old’s ‘schoolboy’ defending and scathingly opined that such a performance would make a transfer to Tranmere Rovers more likely.
A few days later, the Cork native doubled down on that stance by remarking on the Stick to Football podcast that the Reds’ number 66 ‘still defends like he has never played at right-back’.
Keane now full of praise for Trent but can’t resist another dig
In the wake of Trent confirming that he’ll leave Liverpool at the end of his contract this summer, Keane and his fellow Stick to Football pundits were discussing the impact that his exit will have on Arne Slot’s side, and this time the ex-Man United captain gave a rather more cerebral appraisal of our outgoing vice-captain.
The 53-year-old said (via The Overlap): “It’ll make them weaker for next year without Trent…I like [Conor Bradley], but he won’t be as good as Trent, certainly going forward. In a few years’ time he might be.
“Liverpool will be weaker. Obviously they’ll get someone in the summer but at this moment in time…we’ve been talking about Trent for the last seven or eight years how brilliant he is going forward; it’s a lot to live up to. They’re weaker already [without him].”
However, it wouldn’t be too long before Keane reverted to type. When Paul Scholes claimed that Bradley is ‘a better defender’ than Trent, the Irishman witheringly replied: “Well that wouldn’t be hard, would it?”
Trent will be a loss but Liverpool will be fine once he goes
In British media circles, arguably no topic has been discussed to death more often in recent years than that of Alexander-Arnold’s defensive ability, with Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher also among the queue of pundits who’ve lambasted the 26-year-old in that regard.
Here at Empire of the Kop, we’ve often fought Trent’s corner whenever he’s been pilloried for his defending by TV analysts, and we’re not going to change our opinion drastically just because he’s confirmed that he’s leaving Liverpool.
It mightn’t be the strongest point of his game, for sure, but nor is it as amateurish as Keane has frequently made out. Also, even those Reds supporters who are most scorned by the right-back’s decision to leave his hometown club on a free transfer would have to admit that what he offers in possession is just phenomenal.
Alas, he’ll no longer be an LFC player by the end of June, and – in a point validly argued by John Aldridge – Slot must now look to the future, whether that’s by entrusting Bradley as a fixed starter from next season or utilising the summer transfer window to sign a replacment for our departing vice-captain.
Liverpool will miss the qualities that Trent brought to the team, but they’ve always carried on and enjoyed success after the exits of numerous club legends, and we’ve no doubt that they’ll do so again after the England international is paraded in front of a packed Bernabeu stadium once he joins Real Madrid in a few weeks’ time.
