No contact, no World Cup place? What went wrong for Alexander-Arnold?

By

Football reporter at Wembley Stadium

Trent Alexander-Arnold's omission from Thomas Tuchel's largest England squad is the latest blow to his stop-start international career and casts huge doubt on his hopes of playing at the World Cup.

Head coach Tuchel said on Friday he had "not yet" spoken to the 27-year-old about his exclusion, with the full-back now absent from four successive squads.

Alexander-Arnold is back playing for Real Madrid after injury but is not in the 35-man group for the last international camp before Tuchel finalises his squad for this summer's tournament in the USA, Canada and Mexico.

With Chelsea's Reece James - England's first-choice right-back under Tuchel - missing the friendly games against Uruguay and Japan on 27 and 31 March, many thought that Alexander-Arnold would be a near certainty to be included for the first time since June 2025.

But despite playing for Real Madrid in the knockout stages of the Champions League and England stalwarts Kyle Walker and Kieran Trippier being retired, the former Liverpool defender finds himself out of the squad with at least five other players in front of him.

So what went wrong?

Tuchel, who has made clear his love of the physical nature of English football alongside his want of a solid backline referenced Jarrell Quansah, Djed Spence and Tino Livramento as the players in front of Alexander-Arnold.

And although predominately a centre-back, Aston Villa's Ezri Konsa played at right-back in the comfortable win over Wales in October and is an option there too.

"A slightly different profile," Tuchel said when asked by BBC Sport about what the other players bring.

"It's not what Trent cannot offer us. I know very well what Trent can offer.

"I suffered when he played against my teams with Liverpool. I know very well about his strengths and what he can give."

Livramento played the second-half of Newcastle's 7-2 defeat by Barcelona in the second leg of their Champions League tie on Wednesday, but he has already impressed the England boss.

Tuchel is big on players having "credit" for what they have previously done for him and Livramento played in England's 5-0 away win against Serbia, arguably the most impressive performance since he took charge.

"It is a sporting decision that we stick with Quansah, Livramento and Spence who all can play in camp in the right full-back position," added the German.

"We have evidence with how good we were in September, October and November and the players who are in camp have to push for their ticket. They have to show again that they deserve this spot."

The last of Alexander-Arnold's 34 caps came as a substitute during a disappointing 1-0 win over Andorra, with Tuchel opting to start that game with Curtis Jones at right-back.

And the England boss has not selected him since.

It won't be a huge shock to the Alexander-Arnold, given he has featured just once in Tuchel's 10 games in charge.

But it will make him think what could have been after arguably his best run in an England side when Lee Carsley was the England interim manager.

Alexander-Arnold started the first four of Carsley's matches in charge as England secured promotion back to the top division of the Nations League.

The defender scored a free-kick as England beat Finland 3-1 in Helsinki. He played at left-back in that game before a hamstring injury meant he missed the last two games of the Nations League campaign.

It never quite clicked for Alexander-Arnold under Gareth Southgate either.

The former England manager was never fully convinced about his defensive ability and Southgate took Alexander-Arnold to Euro 2024 as a midfield player, but abandoned the number eight experiment after just two group games.

But Alexander-Arnold did have arguably his best moment in an England shirt in that tournament, when he scored the winning penalty against Switzerland in the quarter-finals.

Alexander-Arnold made a high profile move from boyhood club Liverpool to European giants Real Madrid last summer, but the transfer has not gone exactly to plan.

He played for Madrid in the Club World Cup, but his first full season has been hampered by hamstring and thigh injuries while Xabi Alonso, the manager who signed him has been sacked.

The two injuries, which kept him out for around two months each, have restricted his ability to get into a flow and find his best form.

He started five of Madrid's first six matches and is battling for the position with Madrid legend Dani Carvajal.

His now manager Alvaro Arbeloa spoke about how Madrid were going to be "proceeding cautiously and calmly" with Alexander-Arnold after his injury issues. The defender returned to first-team action in February.

He started the Champions League knockout games against Benfica and Manchester City in a show that he is on track to eventually make the right-back slot his own.

And he will also hope that he could play a big part as Madrid push to try to win the La Liga title. They are currently second, four points behind leaders Barcelona.

However, with his broken season and Tuchel previously saying that Alexander-Arnold "relies heavily on his offensive contributions and gives not so much emphasis on the defensive discipline and effort" it was always going to be a tough ask.

"No," Tuchel said when asked if Alexander-Arnold's World Cup hopes are over. "I know it is a tough decision for Trent. These tough decisions come with the job.

"I know it's a tough one, I know it's a big name, a huge talent with a big career. I feel I know what Trent can give us and decided still to stick to the players in camp with us."

Tuchel said during the last international camp in November that he would visit Alexander-Arnold in Madrid but that hasn't seemed to help.

The England manager referenced last year how Bayer Leverkusen defender Jarrell Quansah, a former Liverpool team-mate of Alexander-Arnold, is "a tiny bit ahead" due to his performances and the fact that "he is tall, he is fast, he is strong in build-up, he is strong in the air".

Tuchel has continuously built his England squad with imposing defenders and strong runners and with Quansah also able to play at centre-back, it has added another block on Alexander-Arnold's route to the World Cup.

And despite Tuchel not completely closing the door, all of these factors make it seem that Alexander-Arnold is unlikely to be part of the World Cup squad as the England men's side try to win the competition for the first time since 1966.