As Liverpool traveled to Swindon Town for their final pre-season match, Brendan Rodgers selected a squad with a mixture of returning players and new signings, including Adam Bogdan, Christian Benteke, and Roberto Firmino.
However, there was one twist that caught supporters off guard. Sixteen-year-old Trent Alexander-Arnold was named in the starting lineup at right-back. Here are four facts about the young Englishman.
1)
Alexander-Arnold was born on 7 October 1998 in West Derby, which is in the northern part of Liverpool. He played in a few junior leagues before permanently joining the Liverpool youth system at a young age. Despite playing as a right-back, he admits to pretending to be Steven Gerrard whilst he was at school.
2)
When the Liverpool first team travelled to Spain in early November last season to face Real Madrid in the Champions League, Brendan Rodgers invited Alexander-Arnold to train with the senior squad at the Bernabeu.
However, he was not one of the 18 players selected for the match. After an impressive start to the season with the Under-18s squad, Alexander-Arnold found himself in Madrid, not even a month after his 16th birthday.
3)
With the amount of talent he has had since he began playing football, he has been representing England since 2013, when he started with the Under-16s. In December 2013, he played in the Nike Tournament in Florida, USA with the Under-16s.
He captained the Under-17 side against Sweden in the Nordic Tournament last summer. In May 2015, he helped the Under-17 team earn a spot in the 2015 World Cup in Chile, which will be held in October, by defeating Spain on penalties. He will be hoping his efforts were enough to earn him a spot on the World Cup squad.
4)
In his free time, Alexander-Arnold enjoys watching movies and listening to music. Movies he enjoyed include the Batman series and Entourage (2015).
One of his favorite musicians is Drake, who has been heavily criticized for switching allegiances between Manchester United, Chelsea, and Manchester City.
