'I always thought': Trent Alexander-Arnold names the 'biggest fear' he used to have at Liverpool

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Liverpool are sweating on the fitness of a couple of important players heading into a big week in their season.

The Reds face Real Madrid then Manchester City at Anfield over the next five days and could do with everyone available.

One player who is in the midst of a race against time to be fit to play in either game is Trent Alexander-Arnold.

The right-back missed Sunday’s win against Southampton after being taken off during the Aston Villa match just before the international break.

Initially, Alexander-Arnold’s injury did not look serious, though, and there remains a chance that the 26-year-old could be involved against the European or Premier League champions.

In the meantime, the spotlight continues to fall on whether Alexander-Arnold will be at Liverpool next season. And as his contract standoff continues, the England international has been looking back on his time with the club.

Trent Alexander-Arnold recalls ‘biggest fear’

Conor Bradley did a decent job filling in for Alexander-Arnold on Sunday. However, it’s clear that there remains a big drop-off between Arne Slot’s two options at right-back.

Trent is one of the very best in the world and is the current jewel in the crown of Liverpool academy graduates.

The fact that he is a local lad representing his boyhood club is part of the reason why Alexander-Arnold leaving for nothing next summer has the potential to hurt so much.

And while Liverpool supporters’ ‘biggest fear’ remains that he, Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk walk away at the end of the season, Trent has explained that his main worry when coming through at Anfield was being sent back down to the academy.

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“The respect I had for them [the first-team] was, okay I need to be at your level,” the Scouser recalled while speaking to Sky Sports.

“In the academy you see players go and train with the first-team once or twice and then they’re back down.

“That was probably the biggest fear I had and I always thought to myself ‘once I’m in and around the first-team I never want to go back.'”

Will Trent Alexander-Arnold play against Real Madrid?

Given that fact that he’s now out of the team, conversation over Alexander-Arnold’s future seems to have taken a step back of late.

The reason for that may also be that Salah has taken the spotlight away from anyone else and placed it firmly on himself after his comments this weekend.

Nevertheless, the fact remains that as things stand, this will be Alexander-Arnold’s last season at Liverpool.

If that turns out to be the case, then he will be desperate to face both Real Madrid and Man City this week.

Speaking to the press on Friday, Slot suggested that Alexander-Arnold could play against Madrid, although we’re likely to learn more on that front during the Dutchman’s Tuesday press conference.