Real Madrid's Trent Alexander-Arnold Faces Uncertain Future

Trent Alexander-Arnold is not having a great start to the season. With Dani Carvajal's departure in the summer, everything seemed to indicate that he would take the leading role in the area. But it was not so. After the signing of Denzel Dumfries from Inter Milan, it was expected that the competition for the starting spot would be very strong, and it has been, even more so since we recently added a third individual.

The Englishman played only one minute during last Sunday's Clasico. He entered the field to replace Arda Guler, a substitution that, clearly, only had the purpose of wasting valuable seconds on a clock that was running in Real Madrid's favor. Trent was not Jose Mourinho's first choice to replace captain Federico Valverde when he had to come off as a precaution in the 62nd minute, since he was suffering discomfort in his leg.

It was the Uruguayan we were referring to specifically as the "third individual," since, despite the fact that he is naturally a midfielder, the qualities he has shown when he is put at right back have amazed the Portuguese coach, who began using him in this position in the last three matches. Leaving on the bench, impressively, two elite fullbacks like Dumfries and Trent himself.

Mourinho decided that the one who would replace him in a match as demanding as a Clasico would be Dumfries, due to his physical power and ability to cover the entire flank. This makes the Englishman the most affected by Valverde's change of position. Because the coach decided to start testing this from the match against Villarreal, when he took Trent himself off the field in the 52nd minute, moving the Uruguayan to fullback.

In this position, Valverde had a great performance and assisted Yan Diomande so that he could score the winning goal. A tactical move that was not paid attention to due to all the controversy that happened with Vinicius Jr.'s sending-off. However, it was used again against Roma days later. When, with the score 3-1 against, Dumfries was replaced by Guler and Valverde was sent again to fullback. After this, Madrid came back from the match 3-4 and consolidated a streak of five consecutive victories.

Of those five matches, Trent has only played 53 minutes. 52 against Villarreal and 1 against Barcelona, which puts the Englishman in a difficult situation. Being the team's third fullback, doubts about his future in Madrid are beginning to appear. There are already several clubs, specifically in England, that are beginning to see the possibility of acquiring his services during the winter market.