Arne Slot recalls challenging Trent Alexander-Arnold to improve his defending

Liverpool manager Arne Slot has recalled challenging Real Madrid bound Trent Alexander-Arnold to improve on his defending during the Reds' pre-season training last summer.

Speaking in his pre-match press conference ahead of the visit of Crystal Palace to Anfield on the final day of the Premier League season, Slot said of his pre-season discussion with Alexander-Arnold:

I said to him 'You are a much better defender than everybody tells you, unfortunately you don't show it all the time, that's why people sometimes say you are not'.

"If he is just at it and focused and concentrated, there are not many players that can go around him, because he's fast, he's agile, he has a great mentality.

"But it's about showing that every single game, because in this world we are judged not only on the 34 games we do well, we are mainly judged on the four games we don't do so well."

Dutchman Slot is yet to decide whether or not Alexander-Arnold will play in Liverpool's match against Palace, with the Reds to be handed the Premier League trophy following the full-time whistle.

26-year-old Alexander-Arnold will end a 20-year association with Liverpool this summer by moving on to Spanish giants Real Madrid on a free transfer, with Los Blancos keen for the right-back to join up with his new employers in time to participate in the FIFA Club World Cup in the United States in June.

Alexander-Arnold will unite with a new Real Madrid manager in the form of Xabi Alonso, with the Spanish World Cup winner primed to replace Carlo Ancelotti in the managerial dugout at the Santiago Bernabeu.

The England international won eight major trophies with Liverpool including one UEFA Champions League, two Premier Leagues, one FA Cup, two EFL Cups, one FIFA Club World Cup and one UEFA Super Cup.

Liverpool appear to have moved fast to replace the outgoing Alexander-Arnold, with reports suggesting the Reds have agreed to trigger the £29.5m release clause in Bayer Leverkusen right-back Jeremie Frimpong's contract.

It will be interesting to observe how Netherlands international Frimpong fares as Alexander-Arnold's successor, with the ex-Celtic player registering 29 goal contributions across the past two seasons in the Bundesliga.

James Wilson

• Liverpool F.C.
• Premier League
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