Gareth Southgate hints at Trent Alexander-Arnold decision amid 'frustration' with Liverpool star

Gareth Southgate has hinted he could opt against pushing Trent Alexander-Arnold into midfield at Euro 2024, having been unable to fully test it out at international level.

The evolution of Alexander-Arnold into a midfield playmaker is continuing to attract debate as to where the Liverpool star should play for both club and country. Jurgen Klopp has spoken openly about the positives of using the 25-year-old in midfield but Southgate has tended to be more conservative in his approach.

Alexander-Arnold has not been involved in the March international fixtures due to injury and there may only be a couple of post-season friendlies before this summer's European Championships. And Southgate admits it's frustrating not to be able to test out the change against top-level opposition in Brazil and Belgium.

"The midfield thing we've seen, but we’ve missed two opportunities with September and now this one that is really frustrating because there's so much that’s unknown about it at the minute," Southgate told reporters of the Alexander-Arnold experiment.

"As you know, I've liked the idea for a long time but we’re going to be trialling it when we haven't seen it in a really high level game. So we'll just have to see where we can go with it.

"It's such a specialist position. There's a huge difference between playing at full-back and popping into midfield and playing in there, starting in there, in and out of position in the game, receiving with your back to goal - there's a lot to that. We're just going to have to see."

Southgate's admission will put into doubt whether Alexander-Arnold can be a regular starter this summer, with the England boss tending to stick with Kyle Walker as his first-choice right-back. The Liverpool star is expected to be in the squad but could end up being cover for the Manchester City man.

Any friendlies that follow Tuesday's meeting with Belgium will likely see Southgate work towards finding his first-choice line-up, which means there is less opportunity to experiment. Alexander-Arnold may have to prove himself as a midfield option at club level between now and June.