Thomas Tuchel said Trent Alexander Arnold had enjoyed a good start to the season, which came as news to those in England who have not been watching him at Real Madrid. It also, in truth, came as news to those in Spain who have. If the England manager did not see enough in Alexander-Arnold to include him in the World Cup in the summer he has not really had the chance to see enough to change that decision as autumn begins.
Two unremarkable league starts provide insufficient evidence with which to make a case for the full-back’s recall, or indeed his exclusion, but he is in the squad. Alexander-Arnold’s most high-profile match this season has been against Inter at the Santiago Bernabéu. That night, he started from the middle of midfield.
At the pre-match press conference, José Mourinho had refused to answer a direct and apparently well-informed question about employing the right-back in midfield, given the absence through injury or suspension of Eduardo Camavinga, Arda Guler, Bernardo Silva, Aurélien Tchouaméni and Thiago Pitarch, as well as his determined conclusion that Jude Bellingham is better used further up. In the post-match press conference he said he had no other option, thanked Alexander-Arnold for trying and admitted that the “specifics” of midfield were different from those of full-back, mentioning physicality and perspective on the pitch. In short, this hadn’t worked and Alexander Arnold is not a midfielder.
That is not a reason not to include Alexander-Arnold for England, of course. Tuchel was clear in saying the former Liverpool player had been called up as a right-back. Nor, though, has Alexander-Arnold made some great change in his natural position after a first season in which he played 30 of 56 Madrid games.
Absent from the World Cup, Alexander-Arnold was one of eight players able to join Mourinho at the start of pre-season. That might have give him a head start, and the arrival of another coach offered him the chance of a new start too, but it has not worked out that way. On the opening day he began on the bench, coming on with 10 minutes remaining as Madrid finally found the late Carlos Espí goal that defeated Espanyol.
He then sat out their 4-1 win over Real Sociedad. In both, Denzil Dumfries, the right-back signed over the summer, began ahead of him. Against promoted Málaga, currently 19th, Alexander-Arnold got 90 minutes and offered a performance, greeted with enthusiasm, which suggested maybe this could be a new beginning.
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