Trent Alexander-Arnold has become a massive talking point in English football.The entire Premier League did a double-take when the Liverpool star was omitted from Gareth Southgate's final England squad before his official selection for Euro 2020.Yes, Alexander-Arnold hasn't been at his best over the course of the 2020/21 campaign, but it was still a massive surprise that one of the world's best right-backs was left at home.
TAA snubbed by England
According to the Metro, the Three Lions coach explained: "There’s some areas of the pitch where we’ve got incredible competition for places and Trent is very unfortunate.
"I don’t think he’s played at the level that he found in the last couple of years but I think he’s getting very close to that now. In the last few weeks he’s definitely taken steps in the right direction."
However, the England boss was made to eat his words just a few days after the San Marino, Albania and Poland games when Alexander-Arnold dropped a superb performance against Arsenal.
Should TAA go to Euro 2020?
It was Alexander-Arnold's stunning cross from the right-hand side that allowed Diogo Jota to head Liverpool into the lead, paving the way for the Reds to secure an impressive 3-0 victory.
As a result, Alexander-Arnold's unique situation became a hot topic of conversation the following evening on Monday Night Football with Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher exchanging blows.
Now, it's worth saying that both Carragher and Neville would personally take Alexander-Arnold on the plane to Euro 2020, but the latter was far more sympathetic to the counterargument.
Neville and Carragher debate TAA
In fact, Neville went as far as claiming that Southgate wouldn't take the Liverpool star to the tournament and mounted a pretty convincing argument in the interest of playing devil's advocate.
What followed was arguably the two most fascinating pundits on television going head-to-head on one of the most interesting debates in English football - and it was absolutely gripping to watch.
So, whip out your notepads and get ready to nail your colours to the mast by watching Neville and Carragher argue either side of whether Southgate should take Alexander-Arnold to Euro 2020.
Oh my goodness. Where did all that popcorn go?
TAA has to make the squad
As much as I love MNF recruiting other footballing legends for their panel, there's nothing better than watching Carragher and Neville go back and forth on some of the game's biggest debates.
And it's credit to Neville's astonishing footballing acumen that he managed to make such a convincing argument about something that, well, seems inexplicable to so many England fans.
I'm not going to sit here and claim that Neville has changed my mind about taking Alexander-Arnold because even he disagrees with that tact, but it's easy to see why Southgate might be unsure.
Besides, although Alexander-Arnold has become one of the world's best in Liverpool's system, this is England we're talking about and Southgate has made it clear that he prefers a defensive approach.
And regardless of your opinion on Alexander-Arnold's ability going forward, I think we can all agree that one debate that's hard to sustain is that the Liverpool man is England's best defensive right-back.
But does that make him anything short of world-class or ill-fitting for a place on England's coach to Euro 2020? A big fat 'nope'.
