Jurgen Klopp says Liverpool have a player with the full package who’s ‘developed every single day’

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Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp has waxed lyrical about Reds right-back Trent Alexander-Arnold, saying he doesn’t understand why he didn’t make the cut for the latest England squad.

The 22-year-old is one of the Anfield academy’s greatest success stories in recent years, breaking into the first team and becoming arguably the best right-back in world football.

Since making his debut in 2016, Alexander-Arnold has clocked up 168 senior competitive appearances for Liverpool, registering nine goals and 40 assists.

He has also won 12 caps for England, but wasn’t able to add to his tally in March as Gareth Southgate omitted him from the squad for their first three World Cup qualifiers.

Kyle Walker, Kieran Trippier and Reece James were preferred this particular time, with Southgate saying Alexander-Arnold’s levels haven’t been as high as in previous years.

Klopp, speaking ahead of Liverpool’s return to Premier League action, says he didn’t understand Southgate’s decision.

“He was in great shape here in training and he dealt with it very well,” Klopp told Sky Sports.

“It wasn’t nice for him as you can imagine. I’m a manager myself so I make my decisions for my team for my own reasons and I respect that Gareth [Southgate] is doing that too.

“You can imagine a country who can leave Alexander-Arnold at home – they’re in a top place.

I know there are good players out there and we don’t need to talk about the qualities of Walker, Reece James, [Aaron] Wan-Bissaka… England are blessed with a lot of talent.

“But none of these players, from my point of view, has the package like Trent. That’s my point of view.

“I’ve worked with him for nearly five and a half years as I brought him up pretty early and he’s developed every single day.

“When I heard that he wasn’t in the squad because perhaps he wasn’t as good this season as he has been in other seasons.

“The truth is that he was one of the stand-out players for us. He didn’t have a brilliant start to the season – that is true as well.

“But he had covid and other issues that are normal with his age group, so I would’ve wished that there was a bit more faith in general in him.

“I didn’t see him being on the edge of whether he would be selected or not… I respect the decision of Gareth 100 percent, but I didn’t understand it.”