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United States Gareth Southgate lifts lid on midfield quandary after Trent Alexander ...
Trent Alexander-Arnold is finally enjoying wearing an England shirt after a “difficult” start to his international career.
Alexander-Arnold, 25, is still only on 24 caps six years after making his debut and remains something of an enigma in an England shirt.
England boss Gareth Southgate says he suffered through competition for places at right-back but must now figure out his role for the Euros this summer.
Liverpool star Alexander-Arnold started in midfield against Bosnia and Herzegovina, switched to right-back and scored a terrific goal yet did not really nail down his place in either role.
But Southgate is leaning heavily towards using him in a deeper midfield role alongside Declan Rice - having previously used him as a No8 - and that means another position for Alexander-Arnold to master.
Southgate said: “Firstly, he is enjoying playing in an England shirt. He has had a difficult international career in that because of the strength in depth in the area, we haven’t always been able to give him the amount of football that his talent deserves.
“But we have always been trying to find a way to do that and I think he knows that and he appreciates that so it was lovely to see him score, have that moment and play with that confidence for England.
“We were very pleased, it is a role he is discovering and he is hungry to learn and has been since I talked to him about playing it a year or so ago and equally what we saw in the last half an hour is also an important option for us as well.
“We are going to have different challenges in this tournament and we are going to have to have different ways of solving problems that teams pose us.”
Should Trent Alexander-Arnold start for England against Serbia? Have your say in the comments.
Southgate admitted that whether Alexander-Arnold can do it in midfield in a tournament is still a gamble and says he would potentially face harder tests than in a warm-up friendly.
Southgate added: “That is the unknown, obviously with Conor Gallagher, with Kobbie Mainoo, even with Adam Wharton you know exactly what they can and what they can’t do. None of these players can do everything so you are trying to work out what is the right balance.
“Obviously Declan is going to be in there so what is the balance with him. That could be different for different games, I think we will play against a back five at certain times and we have got some good options, both what we start with but also what we can adapt the team to during matches.”
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