Can Trent Alexander-Arnold hack it in midfield against the top dogs at Euro 2024? He’s being asked to do something he doesn’t really want to do, writes CRAIG HOPE

Talk to former players and they’ll tell you that the very best create pictures in their heads, especially those tasked with creating.

The problem for Trent Alexander-Arnold – Gareth Southgate’s midfield experiment – ​​is that he has been taking these pictures from the right-back position for almost eight years. He is still working on the camera in the middle of the field.

As one observer who saw him rise through the England youth ranks as a midfielder says: ‘He has now been reprogrammed.’ The same source recalls how Alexander-Arnold played for England Under-17s, and how everyone in attendance left believing they had seen an international central midfielder in the making. They were right, except that the young boy-to-be has yet to be created.

Take last Monday evening at St James’ Park. Alexander-Arnold played for an hour in midfield against Bosnia. For all the passes he played – and there were plenty – none penetrated a team ranked 74th in the world, one place below Northern Ireland. England was a pedestrian place and in Alexander-Arnold they had a wanderer who did little to hasten their step.

He then returned to right-back for the final half hour, the position he has played since Liverpool Under-18s coaches decided it was his best chance to break into the first team. He broke in and locked out all his rivals.

England boss Gareth Southgate has experimented with Alexander-Arnold in central midfield

It was no surprise that the change changed his influence on Bosnia. The shots he took in the right rear were immediate. Those from before, on the other hand, were still processing. It was clear to everyone on Tyneside that the player was happier in a more familiar environment. His death was astute, certain and, in part, so daring that it drew shouts of approval from the schoolchildren in the stands. The kids didn’t get excited when he stroked the ball sideways along the center line.

Then, his highlight, a first-time volley into the bottom corner from an angle that defied football physics. He was alone in that position – six yards wide of the six yard area – and had crept there unnoticed from the right-back.

And yet, when the England squad was confirmed for the European Championship a few days later, he was listed as a midfielder. Yes, he is seen as a hybrid option, but Southgate won’t trust him defensively against better teams. Both Kyle Walker and Kieran Trippier – and perhaps even Ezri Konsa and Joe Gomez – line up at right-back for Alexander-Arnold.

Who would have thought this would be the case when Brazil’s legendary right-back Cafu told Mail Sport in 2020: ‘Alexander-Arnold can take the right-back position back to another level. I think we’ve started to change the narrative, the way people look at full-backs. It’s not just the goalscorer who should be the best player in the world. It is completely wrong that some great players have never won the Ballon d’Or because of their position. Nowadays full-backs should be seen as the key players in the game.”

Against Bosnia he struggled to influence the game or play penetrating passes from midfield

But when Alexander-Arnold was switched to right-back, his influence changed

Southgate is more likely to see Alexander-Arnold as number 8, which is reflected in his shirt number for the final. But surely England – tournament favorites, don’t forget – is better than shoving square pegs into round holes? If the theory is that they can afford to utilize Alexander-Arnold’s creative skills in the group stages against tough opponents to beat, why not use him for that purpose from right-back?

We also need to consider this: who would be his forward outlet from midfield? Harry Kane doesn’t want the ball to get in the back, the one pass that Alexander-Arnold can drop like few others. Jude Bellingham, Cole Palmer and Phil Foden would all prefer to have the ball above their feet too. Even Bukayo Saka wants to step in and do his own damage rather than chasing the other side of a full-back.

And isn’t this what we saw against Bosnia? Opponents sit deep, closing off space and England playing in front of them rather than behind them. Kane has already warned that this is what they will face in their group matches. Alexander-Arnold was redundant for those sixty minutes and tried to be something he is not. The landscape was too busy through his lens.

Of course, it could still work in the early games here in Germany. He is a great footballer and perhaps the best option among himself, Conor Gallagher, Adam Wharton and Kobbie Mainoo to play alongside Declan Rice. He has the most top-level experience of that quartet – albeit at right-back – and his set-piece play alone could make for exciting games in England’s favour.

In reality, Alexander-Arnold is asked to do something he doesn’t really want to do

It would seemingly make more sense to use the 25-year-old from right-back for his creativity

He would have Rice as his insurance policy and with the permission to push into unpopulated areas as the likes of Foden and Bellingham are cared for elsewhere, Alexander-Arnold has what it takes to fire at goal from the halfway line. You can see why Southgate believes it can be successful, at least in the short term.

But what then? What happens if Spain or Italy come through in the quarter-finals? Or France in the semi-finals? Would Southgate want his square peg to disappear into that round hole as England are overrun in midfield?

It is a project he will continue with on the Blankenheim training fields this week in the run-up to Sunday’s opener against Serbia in Gelsenkirchen. But perhaps Southgate should reconsider the 25-year-old’s own words from 2020.

“I’ve always enjoyed playing right-back because there’s a lot more freedom in the future,” he said. ‘It’s a lot more chaotic in the middle.’

And that’s the bigger picture: Alexander-Arnold is asked to do something he doesn’t really want to do.