New right-back? No problem: The stars most like Trent Alexander-Arnold

Trent Alexander-Arnold is leaving Liverpool and the Reds will need a new right-back. No problem - here are the players most like him.

Trent Alexander-Arnold officially confirmed on Monday that he will leave Liverpool at the end of his contract. The Scouser has been with the Reds for 20 years, including his time as a youth player, but calls it a day in 2025.

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His destination is yet to be confirmed but everyone has their suspicions (it’s Real Madrid). Liverpool, then, will need to react.

Now, Alexander-Arnold’s replacement is Conor Bradley - let’s get that straight. The Reds will not find a better option for anything like reasonable money and the only limiting factor there is the youngster’s injury record.

But if Bradley can overcome that, Liverpool have someone very special. However, there’s no guarantee that Bradley will overcome his fitness issues, pushing the club to sign someone.

And what if they want someone similar to Alexander-Arnold? After all, he’s been a key part of this team for years. It makes sense that Liverpool should look at options who could slot right into the void he leaves behind.

Here are the stars who are most similar to Alexander-Arnold, then. We’re going off of Fbref’s ‘similar’ player rankings, which takes data and finds those in the same position who lie in the same percentile as the chosen star.

Now, it is flawed slightly: it doesn’t weight statistics. Playing progressive passes as a similar rate to Alexander-Arnold should earmark someone as more similar than someone who tackles at the same rate.

Then again, no one passes progressively like Alexander-Arnold and he does lead Europe in that statistic. But Fbref’s rankings are as close as we’ve got - so here’s what they say.

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Similar players to Trent Alexander-Arnold

The ‘most similar’ full-back to Alexander-Arnold is supposedly Pedro Porro of Tottenham Hotspur. It’s difficult to believe that the Reds would land him, however.

And you can see why the data says that. Porro is another attacking full-back who provides assists and goals every now and then. He’s very forward-thinking and intercepts passes at an almost identical rate to the Liverpool star (1.27 per 90 to 1.26).

Przemysław Frankowski is next. The Pole left RC Lens for Galatasaray this year but the similarities in playing style are actually quite incredible.

He comes remarkably close to matching Alexander-Arnold for progressive passes, for one (8.32 to 7.52). In fact, the similarities remain near-identical for attempted passes, tackles and interceptions, too.

But Frankowski has just moved and is 30. Liverpool won’t be moving for him.

Nice full-back Jonathan Clauss is next on the list: but one of those where the ‘key’ stats (i.e passing) aren’t actually similar at all. But there’s also an interesting theme developing.

Frankowski’s data is almost entirely from Ligue 1, as is Clauss’s. Paris Saint-Germain full-backs Nuno Mendes and Achraf Hakimi are also on this list, as are AS Monaco’s Caio Henrique and Marseille full-back Quentin Merlin.

The French influence continues: Mainz’s Anthony Caci is French, even if he’s playing in Germany now. Porro, Lucas Vazquez and Lazio defender Luca Pellegrini are the only ones without that French influence, actually.

There are no Premier League players at all, suggesting there’s no one really doing it like Alexander-Arnold in England. Mendes is the only one under 26, too - similar players are all either in there prime or slightly past it.

And that’s a lesson for Liverpool and arguably the real takeaway here. Finding someone similar to Alexander-Arnold is almost impossible if you want a long-term option (it’s important to remember, too, that a lot of the players mentioned are actually left-backs).

The real move has to be a different style of defender, which Bradley offers and which new arrivals almost certainly will, too. Alexander-Arnold is a unique player who has brought an incredible extra dimension for Liverpool over the last eight years.

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That’s uniqueness has been a weapon: you can’t prepare for Liverpool like you do any other team. But it also means the team must move on entirely from Alexander-Arnold. There really isn’t anyone like him, even if some are ‘similar’.