England manager Gareth Southgate has named Trent Alexander-Arnold in his provisional 33-man squad for the European Championship Euro 2020, while the Liverpool defender has the ability and vision to move to a middle ground for the future.
The 22-year-old right-back was left for the World Cup qualifier in March, but was brought back to an extended squad that would be cut into 26 players before the June 11 to July 11 tournament.
Asked by reporters on Tuesday whether Alexander-Arnold could play in midfield, Southgate said: “I think there’s no doubt that he could. The difficulty is that he did not get the opportunity to do so because he was a young player and it was from here that he came to Liverpool’s academy.”
“He is a brilliant ball passer and has an excellent vision of the pass. So he is a right-handed player… so why not leave him to stay in midfield at some point in his career? “
Southgate also includes Manchester United captain Harry Maguire, who is suffering an ankle injury that could rule him out of Wednesday’s Europa League final against Villarreal. The England manager said he had little information about the health of the defender, who missed training on Tuesday.
“We had an initial assessment of Maguire, which was positive in the context of the tournament, but was always a bit more swollen and needed further investigation. When you have a European final and the information for the opposition is so tight and things are leaking, I understand why clubs want to keep their books close to their chests,” he said.
“It made it a little harder for us, but I have no problem with United… We have some injuries that are in different stages, (with a couple) we have very little information about right now.”
England play friendly against Austria and Romania in June before the Euro 2020 campaign in Group D begins with matches against Croatia, Scotland, and Czech Republic.
