Gareth Southgate has dealt Trent Alexander-Arnold’s World Cup hopes a major blow after deciding to leave the Liverpool right-back out of England’s Nations League squad for their clash against Germany on Monday night.
The 23-year-old is one of five players who have been omitted from the fixture as the competition’s rules mean Southgate must trim his 28-man squad down to 23 names on matchday. Jarrod Bowen, Fikayo Tomori, James Ward-Prowse and the suspended Jack Grealish have also been left out, reports The Guardian.
Alexander-Arnold has struggled so far this campaign compared to his usual high standards and the defender has been subject to a lot of criticism over the past few weeks.
Southgate has never seemed to be the biggest fan of the Liverpool star because of his defensive abilities and there was talk around his inclusion in the build-up to the last EUROS also before the right-back got injured.
Southgate has plenty of options at right-back with Kyle Walker, Reece James and Kieran Trippier all pressing for a place in the World Cup squad and Alexander-Arnold’s inclusion now seems unlikely with the England manager’s latest decision.
There is still a bit of time for the Liverpool star to turn his fortunes around before the plane departs for Qatar but that seems unlikely as Southgate should know most of his squad by now.