In this FRONTPAGE story, we speak to English footballer Trent Alexander-Arnold, who is already carving a name for himself as one of the best in the game.
Trent Alexander-Arnold is regarded as one of the greatest full-backs in the world, representing England and with over 240 appearances for Liverpool FC. He’s a household name.
When he was just 21, Arnold became the fourth-youngest player to reach 100 appearances for the club, behind Michael Owen, Raheem Sterling and Robbie Fowler. In that match, he assisted Mané for the winning goal in a 2–1 victory over Aston Villa. For a defender, he does not miss an opportunity to assist in a victory or take a nerve-racking risk - he drives forward, creates exciting goals made for full stadiums and plays with a creativity that modern football often lacks.
Upon writing this, Arnold has just nutmegged Arsenal’s Zinchenko leading to a deftly dinked cross, and a late, headed Roberto Fimino equalizer at Anfield. He is the type of footballer you’ll still see on the back of a shirt in 20 years time. You’ll remember the name.
Some footballers are the daughters or sons of super fans, others fell in love with the game after their first trip to a live match, or after a certain coach puts a dream to go professional into their head. Not Trent Alexander-Arnold. The Liverpool right-back was born needing football. When asked about his first memory of the sport, Arnold explains that it started before his memory even began; his mother used to stop him crying as a newborn by playing old tapes of Match of the Day. For the now 24 year old, this means his lullabies sounded something like Robbie Fowler’s 100th Premier League goal.
As he grew, the next phase was football instead of cartoons in the morning with his cereal. He recalls watching hours and hours of matches with his brothers instead of children’s TV.“I didn't really support anyone when I was young, I just watched goals and players,” he says. They’d watch Thierry Henry at his Arsenal peak, and race outside to recreate the set pieces and goals between them. As Arnold describes this, he speaks of his brothers like a mini matchday squad - “For what I lacked in strength and age from my older brother, I made up for the good quality of football I was playing, so it was quite an even match. And then my little brother, he was left-footed, so he brought something different to the bunch.”
A modest smile flashes across Arnold’s face when I suggest that children must do this now, after watching him play on the television or in the stands. “I want to be someone who entertains, who makes people fall in love with football, who makes kids want to play and go out there. I want kids, when the game finishes… to go practice what I've just done on the pitch and reenact it with their brothers or sisters. That's the aim, because I remember they were the special things that I used to do with my brothers. What we had seen in a game on a Sunday afternoon, we'd then go in the front garden and redo it. I just hope that is happening with me somewhere.”
Alexander-Arnold is the type of fun, expressive player who takes risks with choices that make fans take sharp inhales and divide traditional pundits. Most of the time, that pays off. In 2019, in the 79th minute of Liverpool’s Champions League match against Barcelona, Alexander-Arnold’s quickly-taken corner resulted in a goal that was later described by Luis Suarez as making “Barca look like a team of children.” When asked about this risk taking in his life, and as a defender, Trent explained that he tries to play every game with a free mind, a little bit naive and open to anything that happens. “I didn't actually realize what I'd done until I got into the changing room and checked my phone and it was mayhem.” I asked if there was a split second he must have considered the bollocking from Klopp in the changing rooms, and from fans online in every corner of the globe if it didn’t pull off, “Oh, there was. Yeah, there was for sure.”
The geographical part of Alexander-Arnold’s DNA can’t be ignored either. Born in West Derby, Liverpool and going to school in Crosby, his early life was engulfed in football culture; “It's everywhere within Liverpool, so there's no escaping even if you try.” Playing regularly with his mates and brothers are of course fond memories for Trent, but for a player of his skill and confidence, it wasn’t sustainable: “I found I got a little bit bored and I wanted a challenge. So I found going there (Liverpool Academy) with kids who were a similar ability to me would be better and more challenging, and I'd be able to see how good I actually was. And yeah, it turned out I was pretty good.”
Although incredibly grateful for all his opportunities and successes so far, when you have been training since you were five years old, there have been many social sacrifices along the way. “In high school years I missed out on house parties… it was that period of my life that I felt the most sacrifice. Since then I've got used to it and it doesn't really bother me. I don't go out on Friday night, Saturday nights… but back then when everyone your age is… coming in on Monday talking about the party they went to on Friday night and I was just sitting at home knowing I was missing out, and then seeing pictures on Facebook or whatever it was.” Forfeiting ‘normal’ activities is part of Arnold’s everyday now, but knowing he has become a “part of history and I'd done what I set out to do” makes it all so very worth it.
Like every professional player, the amount of time spent outside the training grounds and off the pitch is a very small portion of Trent’s life. It doesn’t leave a lot of time to develop a sense of individuality or personal style. But not Trent; he finds ways to express his personality through his style of play, and visually by encouraging football boot designers: "Look, you guys go as crazy as you want, I'm happy." Trent agrees that a “player can be colorful in the way they play. I like color, and I feel like that's the kind of player I am, an exciting player, someone who's lively.”
He continues: “We are subjected to training kits a lot of the time, which is quite frustrating, because a lot of the times when we’re seen, we're always in training kits and I find it really boring. When you do get the opportunity, it's always good to express yourself and just be who you are. I'm one of those people that don't really care what people say… as long as I'm comfortable in what I'm wearing, then I'm happy...”
For his off-the-pitch looks, Arnold is a preferred “in-person shopper,” citing Selfridges as his go-to. “I like to be in the shop and get a feel for textures. You never know if something's going to work online.” When drawing inspiration for his style, a lot of that is coming from music and American sports, “I love basketball… I think those guys are really expressive on every night you see. There's a lot of inspiration over there that I try to find, because I feel like potentially the English sports culture is just a little bit behind the American one in terms of expressiveness.”
That American influence takes form for Trent in bomber jackets, NBA shorts, and ironically cringey printed oversized tees with Michael Jordan on them. Having recently purchased his first pair of dungarees, Trent explains with his somewhat signature cheeky grin “I think I might have a thing for the 2000s, that's when I think the best music was in terms of modern rap. I don't really like the stuff now as much as I did back then. Like Eminem, 50 cent, and Jay-Z, Snoop… that's proper rap for me.” Speaking again on the overlap between style in your profession and in the things you wear, Alexander-Arnold feels like the musicians of that era also “blend their attitude and their style and their flow and their vibe, I think that's what I go for.”
Comfort is also key, “I don't like forcing anything. If I have to force it, then it's not authentic and it doesn't feel right, I'm just not going to enjoy wearing it… You know sometimes it's just a pair of joggers and a plain white tee or like an Under Armour tracksuit. I keep it quite simple on a daily basis, but there's times when I need to step out looking fresh, then I will.” Looking ahead to the summer where Trent will have brief moments of rest and relaxation, he excitedly reveals that summer is his favorite time to dress, “There's nylon silk, nylon shorts and shirts. So you can wear different hats, shades, shoes, sandals, flip flops. The whole body gets working in summer.”
As Merseyside slowly warms up, European breaks will be booked with friends and Trent’s suitcases will be packed with fresh shirts and printed hats between doing “very normal things” like walking his dog. Amongst all this and playing some incredible football, Trent is excited to watch the Lionesses in their World Cup campaign, “Lucy Bronze, she’s someone who I definitely take inspiration from, because she's kind of dominated and won personal accolades in the women's game that I want to replicate within the men's game. But the whole team and the whole sport in general is coming up really fast and it's exciting to see.”
Experience this story and others in the new issue of Highsnobiety Magazine, available from retailers around the world and our online store.
