Liverpool right-back Trent Alexander-Arnold has insisted he is demanding more from himself nowadays because he is no longer a young player.
Alexander-Arnold has proven to be one of the Reds’ finest ever homegrown products and academy graduates, playing crucial roles in their various triumphs during the Jurgen Klopp era.
Though he has ascended to the top of the club game, Alexander-Arnold has not yet translated his success to international level with England. However, Three Lions boss Gareth Southgate has begun to utilise him as a midfielder over recent months, with the experiment beginning to bear fruit.
Speaking to Channel 4 ahead of England’s crucial Euro 2024 qualifier at home to Italy on Tuesday, the 25-year-old revealed he is holding himself more accountable to his performances as he enters the peak of his career.
“The end of last season, the summer camp with England, that was the foundation to go and build on what I’ve built from,” he said.
“There were 10 or 15 games that I laid a good foundation for. And then for me it was about demanding more from me.
“I’ve got high dreams and ambitions, and although I’ve achieved a lot of them, there’s still so much more that I want to achieve. And it’s about going and doing that.
“I’ve realised, for me, I’m not a young player anymore. [I’m] getting into hopefully the peak years of my career and how can I get the best out of that? And I’m the one that’s responsible for it, I’m the one that can make that happen.
“I’ve always felt like I’ve been in control of what I can go and achieve as a player, I just needed the opportunities to go and do that.”
Though Alexander-Arnold only recently turned 25, he has already played a staggering 280 games for Liverpool, as well as a further 21 matches for the England senior side.
He has also won seven trophies with his boyhood club and been named into the PFA Team of the Season on three occasions.
Prior to the 2023/24 season, Alexander-Arnold was named as Liverpool vice-captain, with Virgil van Dijk taking the armband from Jordan Henderson following his controversial move to Al Ettifaq in Saudi Arabia.
