England jersey in sight for Trent Alexander-Arnold; fingers crossed for Tuchel call!
The right-back has endured a disrupted first season at Real Madrid but has been back to his best of late
Trent Alexander-Arnold is hopeful of earning a recall to the England squad this week – though admitted he hasn’t spoken to Thomas Tuchel “yet”. After an injury-disrupted start to his first season at Real Madrid , the right-back has been back to his best in recent weeks and helped the club to a 5-1 aggregate win over Manchester City to progress to the Champions League quarter-finals. Alexander-Arnold was omitted from Tuchel’s squad for England’s World Cup qualifiers last August amid a competitive fight for full-back places, but could be in line for a return ahead of friendlies against Uruguay and Japan.
Tuchel will name his squad on Friday and the Real Madrid defender’s chances of inclusion have been boosted by an injury to Chelsea captain Reece James. Alexander-Arnold is very much optimistic that the call from the England manager will come to give him an opportunity to impress ahead of this summer’s World Cup. ““I haven’t spoken to him… yet,” the 27-year-old said to Amazon Prime Video .
“Obviously the squad gets announced this week so hopefully I’m in that and able to go and represent my country, which is always an honour. ” Alexander-Arnold has thrived recently under the coaching of Alvaro Arbeloa, a fellow former Liverpool right-back who replaced Xabi Alonso at the Bernabeu earlier in the season. Trent Alexander-Arnold is hopeful of an England return (The FA via Getty Images) After surviving a flurry of early Manchester City chances, Vinicius Jr struck twice for Real Madrid as they converted a 3-0 first-leg lead into a comfortable success to set up a likely quarter-final against Bayern Munich.
“It’s the most important time of the season,” Alexander-Arnold explained. “Every game is a cup final now. There is an expectation when you join this club that you go on and win this competition.