It did not take long before the local press in the Spanish capital question the impact of Trent Alexander-Arnold in Real Madrid. The former right back in Liverpool also has Dani Carvajal hot on his heels for a starting point.
The 26-year-old arrived from Liverpool for € 10 million at the beginning of June, after Los Blancos had already agreed a six-year-old deal with Alexander-Arnold. Because Carvajal still recovered from a cross union, the presence of Alexander-Arnold was seen as a sufficient key to pay to bring it in for the club World Cup. Alonso is planning to have him as his normal starter.
Alexander-Arnold started five of the six games of Real Madrid in the club World Cup and managed to give two assists in the knockout phase against Borussia Dortmund and Juventus. A muscle injury kept him out of the semi-final against Paris Saint-Germain, and Marca admits that he showed his quality on the ball in the United States, albeit in a tournament of peaks and trogs for the English international.
However, they note that a theme of his game in their La Liga opener against Osasuna, in which Alexander-Arnold knew 77 touches, but lost the ball 15 times that he was too timid. Los Blancos checked the ball, with Alexander-Arnold often entering midfield, but the Madrid noted every day that he almost always took the conservative pass.
In the meantime, Carvajal received a delicious reception from the Bernabeu and it looked sharp and smooth on the ball when he came up for the last 22 minutes. The captain was very looking for his claim before the starting point again.
“I will go into competition as I have at other times of my career. The more competition I have confronted, the more I have performed. It is a huge challenge that both of us will make better players.”
Alexander-Arnold has only played six games under Alonso, but it will not be long before the pressure to perform at his door arrives, honest or not.