Arne Slot confirms SURPRISE player is in line to replace Trent Alexander-Arnold

Arne Slot has mentioned a surprise name when discussing how Liverpool could replace Trent Alexander-Arnold.

Now that the worst kept secret in football is out there the question Richard Hughes is left facing is just who could replace the Reds departing no.66?

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It's not an easy one to answer. There's no one like Alexander-Arnold on the market. He's one of a kind. A truly generational player.

The right-back deciding to join Real Madrid is truly a really disappointing move for Liverpool and a bit of a head scratcher.

But the reality is that Slot's side are in a good position to replace him.

Conor Bradley is a ready-made replacement waiting in line who has everything to follow on from Alexander-Arnold's legacy and establish himself as another world-class right-back to emerge from the club's academy.

Behind him, Joe Gomez and Jarell Quansah can also play in that role and Slot has now suggested another surprise player is also in consideration for the right-back position at Anfield now that Alexander-Arnold will be leaving.

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Speaking in his press conference ahead of Liverpool's game against Arsenal, Slot was asked about whether Liverpool would dip into the market in order to sign a right-back to replace Alexander-Arnold.

And he gave an interesting answer while naming a surprise player who might be under consideration to replace Alexander-Arnold.

"We've got Conor Bradley and I played Curtis Jones over there," Slot said. "So four players that can play that position.

"I agree with you one of them that is the ideal position and Joe Gomez can play there really well in my opinion but maybe his favourite position would be centre-back. For Jarell it's the same.

"So I think it would be a surprise if I tell you now that yes we are looking at this or we are looking at that. We don't talk about contracts over here so we don't talk about the positions or if we want to improve the team in certain areas."

Jones being mentioned is an interesting one. It's not the first time he's played in that position. In fact, he first played as a right-back under Jurgen Klopp back in the pre-season of the 2018/19 campaign against Manchester United.

Since then Jones has played in that role a few times most recently against Everton and Fulham earlier this season and in both instances he played well.

Undoubtedly, it's a surprise to hear Slot mentioning him as a candidate for the right-back role, but it's clearly something that the Dutchman has considered.

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It's also a reminder that Liverpool are not in an entirely awful position when it comes to the right-back department. Even with Alexander-Arnold leaving Slot has plenty of options and that's why maybe the club might not dip into the market - especially when Richard Hughes has so many other areas he needs to strengthen this summer.