Eye-opening experience for Liverpool youngster

Teenage full-back Trent Alexander-Arnold has had his taste of first-team football this season and spent the last week in Spain studying the habits of Liverpool’s leading lights in order to stay there.

With a 16-day gap in between fixtures, due to Liverpool’s early Emirates FA Cup elimination, Jurgen Klopp took 27 members of his squad to La Manga for some warm-weather training.

But Alexander-Arnold, who has featured eight times for Liverpool this term, felt watching how dedicated his team-mates were away from the training pitch was the real eye-opener.

“Because you’re away 24 hours a day, you get to see what their whole routines are – what they put into their body, what time they go to sleep, everything like that,” said the 18-year-old.

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“You see how professional every single player is and you’re kind of surprised by it.

“You hear rumours about how professional the first-team players are at the Academy, but when you’re in and around it, you actually see that nothing bad will go into their body because they know it won’t help them, things like that.

“It’s incredible because it just shows the level you have to get to and that’s what all us youngsters are trying to do.”