‘Ridiculous threat’ – Xabi Alonso told that ex-Liverpool star would ‘thrive’ at Chelsea
Alan Hutton believes that Trent Alexander-Arnold would ‘thrive’ if he reunited with former Real Madrid boss Xabi Alonso at Chelsea.
Alexander-Arnold left his boyhood club Liverpool to join the Spanish giants two summers ago, but injuries saw him feature just 21 times in the league under Alonso and his interim replacement, Alvaro Arbeloa.
While fit this campaign, the Englishman has still struggled for regular minutes under Jose Mourinho and has started just one of Real’s last six matches in all competitions.
Summer signing Denzel Dumfries has moved above Alexander-Arnold in the pecking order, while Mourinho has also deployed Federico Valverde as a makeshift right-back over the Englishman.
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Given that lack of game time, Hutton believes that Alexander-Arnold may soon start to consider his options.
And the former Premier League full-back earmarked Chelsea as the perfect club to get the 28-year-old back to his best.
‘Trent Alexander-Arnold could thrive at Chelsea because Xabi Alonso would use him in the correct manner and get the best out of him, because his attacking threat is ridiculous,’ Hutton told OLBG.
‘What he sees, his vision, his passing ability, it’s right up there.
‘It is strange when you watch Real Madrid, I was watching El Clásico and Valverde played at right-back while Dumfries and Trent were on the bench.
‘Even for me, as good a player as Valverde is, he’s a midfielder, so that would hurt you a bit. It’s been a shame that it hasn’t quite worked out, but he’s so talented.
‘I think a move back to the Premier League would suit him, he knows it inside out. Someone like Alonso, with what he’d want from him, would use him in the correct manner and get the best out of him.’
Speaking recently, Mourinho admitted that omitting Alexander-Arnold has been a painful decision.
‘First of all, it hurts me. I don’t like to make players feel bad. I want them to feel good,’ Mourinho said.
‘Obviously, when you build a squad with two players per position as your foundation and then have a third player take the field, that’s something I don’t like.
‘But there are things that are more important than these feelings. Things that are more important for the team at a given moment. And I decided that right now, the move was to change up the midfield and put Fede [Valverde] in there.’
And with speculation likely to mount ahead of the January transfer window, former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher said he would welcome Alexander-Arnold back to Anfield.
‘I’d have him back,’ Carragher said on The Overlap. ‘He would get a lot of criticism, because I think he made a mistake. I think he made a big mistake going to Madrid.
‘We’ve definitely missed his creativity.’
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