Trent Alexander-Arnold has revealed that Liverpool legend Steven Gerrard wasn’t the only player he idolised as a young boy… but also, rather controversially, Everton icon Wayne Rooney.
Alexander-Arnold sat down this week with former football star turned pundit Ian Wright, to discuss everything football ahead of the eagerly anticipated return of fans to stadiums up and down the country.
The rise of the 22-year-old has been meteoric in recent seasons, with Alexander-Arnold now considered among the best defenders in world football.
Liverpool star and Red Bull athlete Trent Alexander-Arnold has revealed his childhood idols
Despite growing up as a Red, Alexander-Arnold loved the ‘hype’ of the teenage Wayne Rooney
For the humble boy from Liverpool however, such considerations don’t weight too heavily on his mind. For Alexander-Arnold, it was all about growing up to emulate his childhood hero Gerrard, while also keep on eye on a certain powerhouse at Goodison Park.
‘I remember growing up, I was a Rooney fan,’ Rooney admitted to Wright, in association with Red Bull.
‘He was obviously a local lad but he had the hype at the time. I must have been about five or six when he’d broken into the first team. He was doing crazy things like ‘that’ goal against Arsenal.
Alexander-Arnold was speaking Ian Wright as part of Red Bull’s ‘Can’t Wait To See You’ doc
The Liverpool full-back says Steven Gerrard ‘was everything’ to him when starting in football
‘I remember watching Henry as well. My mum always says that I used to watch loads of Match of Day – video tapes of old matches from the 70’s, 80’s, 90’s.’
At a young age Alexander-Arnold was snapped up by Liverpool and placed straight into the academy system, where he was frequently played in midfield before later being deployed in a slightly deeper defensive position, out wide.
At that time, Trent admits, there was only one Liverpool player in his mind who he was determined to emulate.
‘Gerrard. He was everything to me,’ Alexander-Arnold told Wright.
‘When I was growing up I just wanted to be him, no other way about it. I wanted to live how he lived, I wanted to play how he played, I wanted to kick a ball how he did.
‘I’d walk down the road and I see an empty bottle and I’d run up and strike it, and shout “Gerrard!”. To be fair I think a lot of kids in the city were doing the same thing.’
Alexander-Arnold later went on to play under his idol when Gerrard took the role of Liverpool under-18 coach following his retirement from the game.
Alexander-Arnold graduated from the Liverpool academy and was fast-tracked into the team
It was evident from his tender teenage years that Alexander-Arnold was going to be special
The pair struck up a friendship and close understanding, with Gerrard mentoring Alexander-Arnold and providing a personal line of contact for any queries he had during his development.
It was Gerrard who later waxed lyrical when the youngster scored his first senior goal for the Reds, curling home a sublime freekick against Bundesliga outfit Hoffenheim in the Champions League.
Despite growing closer to the Liverpool legend and now considering him a friend, Alexander-Arnold vividly recalls the first time he ever shared a room with Gerrard.
He revealed: ‘There was a Champions League game and he [Gerrard] was suspended. At that time I played for Liverpool and they gave us complimentary tickets – I think it was me, my brother and my mum who went.
‘Before the game we all went to the players’ lounge and then he walks in and I don’t think I’ve ever felt that feeling. You know when you don’t think someone’s human?
‘You’ve built them up so much you don’t even feel like they’re a real person…you just crumble! We got a picture and stuff like that. He was amazing with us and it’s a day that I’ll never ever forget.’
The 22-year-old is now one of the first names on the team sheet under manager Jurgen Klopp
Alexander-Arnold is hopeful of returning to the Liverpool starting XI in the coming week following a brief injury lay-off, with his comeback set to neatly coincide with the return of a limited amount of supporters inside stadiums.
At present Liverpool sit joint top of the Premier League on the cusp of Champions League progression, though Alexander-Arnold insists that fans have been sorely missed at Anfield and the famous old stadium has lost an element of its power as a result.
‘It’s difficult because you don’t realise how much fans influence game plans, like with momentum and the sounds you can hear… I miss the fans so much,’ he added.
‘It feels empty without them. Even though you know they’re watching at home and they’re all over the world tuning in, it’s not the same without them. Football’s not the same.
‘I miss the route into the stadium, all the fans there, tens of thousands waiting to greet us every single game. No matter what there’s at least ten thousand fans just waiting to watch the bus come into the stadium, it’s crazy.’
When asked further about the mystical connection between Anfield and its passionate supporters, Alexander-Arnold struggled to put his finger on it.
Alexander-Arnold admits he misses fans and that Anfield has not been the same without them
Thousands of Liverpool supporters welcomed the coach every weekend prior to the pandemic
‘I’m telling you there’s something in the stadium, like spiritual. It’s just something in the atmosphere, you can feel the history, you can feel [the force?], yeah.
He added: ‘The Barca game was obviously amazing but that City game [Champions League in 2018], I’ve never felt like that.
‘The only negative about those nights is you can’t speak to your centre back as you can’t even hear them. You’re screaming at the top of your lungs, and they can’t hear you!
‘You’re trying to tell them “Your shoulder, watch your shoulder” but they can’t hear you. That’s the only negative but it’s a positive really.’
To watch ‘Can’t Wait to See You’ in full head to: redbull.co.uk/cantwait
