Paul Merson compares ‘phenomenal’ Trent Alexander-Arnold to David Beckham

Former England international Paul Merson has heaped praise on Trent Alexander-Arnold for his performance against Arsenal in the Carabao Cup on Thursday night. 

Alexander-Arnold played a pivotal role in Liverpool‘s 2-0 win over Arsenal by providing the two assists for Diogo Jota‘s brace at the Emirates Stadium.  

Merson compared Alexander-Arnold’s ‘phenomenal’ ball-playing ability to that of David Beckham and said it would be impossible to tell the difference between the pair if you were only ‘looking at their feet’.  

Former England international Paul Merson has heaped praise on Trent Alexander-Arnold

Alexander-Arnold (right) played a pivotal role in Liverpool’s 2-0 win over Arsenal by providing the two assists for Diogo Jota’s (left) brace at the Emirates Stadium

Merson was particularly impressed with Alexander-Arnold’s second assist – claiming he executed a ‘David Beckham’ style of pass to help Liverpool secure a place in the Carabao Cup final.  

Speaking on Sky Sports after the game, he said: ‘He’s phenomenal. People say, ‘he can’t defend’. Why do you have to defend when you go forward like he does? 

‘To put up the figures and the assists that he gets is just mind-blowing, absolutely mind-blowing. 

‘Some of the balls that he plays, the weight of pass – everything he picks out he composes himself, never panics. 

‘That ball was David Beckham. If you’d have just had a look at his feet there and nothing else, you’d of thought it was David Beckham.’  

Merson compared Alexander-Arnold’s ball- playing ability to that of David Beckham and said it would be impossible to tell the difference between the pair if you were to ‘just look at their feet’

Additionally, Merson (above) couldn’t help but make a dig at the England system saying

Having now registered 15 assists in 24 games this season, Merson highlighted how absurd it was that Gareth Southgate had once left Alexander-Arnold out of the England squad.  

Merson couldn’t help but make a dig at the England system saying: ‘Can’t talk highly enough of the lad. He’s not even our England right-back. We’re blessed.’   

Fellow pundit Jamie Redknapp added: ‘It was about this time last year when he got left out the England squad. There were a lot of question marks about him, he lost his form and had to go back to the drawing board. 

Having now registered 15 assists in 24 games this season, Merson highlighted how absurd it was that Gareth Southgate left him out of his England squad in September

‘No Virgil van Dijk, that was obviously a huge loss, a disruption to that back-four. He’s bounced back from it really quickly and so well. Unbelievable.

‘At times, we always talk about the negatives of players maybe defensively but he realised he had a problem with [Gabriel] Martinelli early in the game and he thought, ‘I’m going to take you out into areas you don’t want to go and I’m going to dominate you’.

‘His passing ability and the way he can just pick a player out – he never looks under duress when he’s got the ball. An incredible footballer and still so young.’