A move to perennial Champions League winners Real Madrid was supposed to afford Trent Alexander-Arnold a new start, and yet a little over three months after departing Liverpool, familiar questions are being asked of the most brilliantly esoteric right back on the planet. Is he a better fit in midfield than in defense? What should his role be with England?

That latter issue has reared its head once more with Thomas Tuchel opting against calling up Alexander-Arnold for England’s World Cup qualifiers at home to Andorra and away to Serbia. This was not an outright dispensing with the Real Madrid man, with Tuchel at pains to frame this less as a dropping and more as “the moment for him to settle and find his rhythm” in the Spanish capital. The England manager had acknowledged that calling Alexander-Arnold into the June international camp underestimated the personal and professional challenges faced by a player making the first transfer of his career. Tuchel remains “a big fan of Trent.”

All that can be true, but recent evidence suggests that he is also grappling with exactly how Alexander-Arnold fits into his side when the biggest games come around. Over the course of a domestic season, Alexander-Arnold has proven that the defensive weaknesses in his game are more than offset by what he creates in possession. Over the five Premier League seasons prior to this one, only Bruno Fernandes bettered Alexander-Arnold in terms of expected assists. No one across the competition completed more passes into the attacking third.

Jurgen Klopp and, to a slightly lesser extent, Arne Slot built their ball progression and chance creation plans around their right back, moving him upwards and inwards.

In knockout football, the calculus has to be a little different. Tuchel, a manager defined by a cautious possession style, knows from experience that a major tournament requires clean sheets to stand a good chance of winning. For all the encouragement that he offered Alexander-Arnold last week, Tuchel’s most telling comments seem to have come before the summer games where he preferred Kyle Walker and an out-of-position Curtis Jones.

“This major impact that he had for Liverpool over so many years … if he wants to have this impact in the English national team, then he has to take the defensive part very, very seriously,” he said. “Because when we are talking, especially about qualifying football, and then tournament football, the one defensive error can be decisive. It can lead to packing your suitcases and going home.”

It has happened to Alexander-Arnold before. He was brilliant in Liverpool’s run to the Champions League final in 2022 but fell asleep at the back post midway through the first half, allowing Vinicius Junior to ghost past him and score the game’s only goal. Would Tuchel turn to him in Serbia next week, let alone in crucial moments next summer? The answer might be different when England can also call on a revitalized Reece James and Tino Livramento.

Similar challenges face Alexander-Arnold at the Santiago Bernabeu. He has felt the sting of being dropped from the starting XI, but is that surprising when Madrid’s other right back is club captain Dani Carvajal? Concerns over Alexander-Arnold’s long-term future are minimal – he performed impressively on his return to the starting XI against Mallorca, where he was denied an assist only by a VAR offside from Kylian Mbappe.

However, the England international’s adaptation is already a talking point in the Spanish press, where he was labeled “timid” on his home debut. The discussions revolve around whether his long-term future might be in central midfield, a recurring question throughout his career, despite struggles in that position during Euro 2024.

His manager, Xabi Alonso, has done plenty to address any issues, emphasizing that having Carvajal and Alexander-Arnold competing for one spot is vital for the squad’s level and would hinge on the appropriate skillset for each game. With potentially 60 games ahead, positional fluidity in Madrid squad is expected.

For now, last season has not changed perceptions about Alexander-Arnold. The England manager’s approach suggests he shares the skepticism of many regarding Alexander-Arnold’s future in the national setup.