Past playersTrent Alexander-Arnold

The aspiring player who lived nearby hoped and dreamed that one day it would be him wearing the famous shirt. But he could not have predicted it would happen – and much more.

He joined the Reds at the age of six, rose through the Academy ranks and by U16 level was already beginning to stir attention from a midfield position, those in the know impressed with his natural command of a football.

Many got their first true look at Alexander-Arnold on August 2, 2015 when he lined up at right-back for the senior team's friendly at Swindon Town and featured for almost an hour of a 2-1 win under Brendan Rodgers.

Alexander-Arnold's switch from midfield to the right side of defence had occurred when his youth coaches, including Academy director Alex Inglethorpe, identified that role as being the teenager's quickest route into the Liverpool reckoning.

It would be more than a year, and a change of manager, before his debut was achieved.

Wearing No.66 for the first time, Jürgen Klopp handed Alexander-Arnold that opportunity a little more than a fortnight after he celebrated his 18th birthday. He played 68 minutes of a 2-1 League Cup win over Tottenham Hotspur at Anfield on October 25, 2016.

There were 11 further outings for him that season as he continued to learn his craft and served as understudy to Nathaniel Clyne, the Reds' established right-back from 2015 to 2017.

But a serious back injury to Clyne ahead of the 2017-18 campaign presented Alexander-Arnold with a chance to stake his claim for the long term. And he grabbed it fully.

A first goal for Liverpool came via a clinical free-kick away at Hoffenheim and having shared right-back responsibilities with Joe Gomez during the early phases of the season, it ended with the Scouser as a firm holder of the spot.

Indeed, the last of his 33 appearances in a truly breakthrough year came on no less an occasion than the Champions League final, where Klopp's side were beaten by Real Madrid.

Alexander-Arnold and his teammates used that disappointment in Kyiv as motivational fuel for a remarkable 2018-19 season in which the defender shone increasingly dazzlingly.

There were 40 games and 15 assists as the Reds lost just a single match in the Premier League and narrowly missed out on the title with 97 points, while returning to the European Cup showpiece and this time winning it.

One of those assists is among the most historic in Liverpool's rich past, the 'corner taken quickly' at Anfield that set up Divock Origi to complete a 4-0 win over Barcelona in the semi-finals having trailed 3-0 from the first leg.

And Alexander-Arnold played every minute in the heat of Madrid on June 1, 2019 – and made more history as the first ever player under 21 to start consecutive finals in the competition – to help the club lift the trophy for a sixth time by overcoming Spurs 2-0.

As a creative cog licensed to express himself within an outstanding team under Klopp, the good times were very much rolling.

By now a full international for his country too, he appeared in every Premier League game, scored four goals and assisted 13 as the Reds ended a 30-year wait to be crowned champions of England by accruing 99 points in 2019-20.

UEFA Super Cup and FIFA Club World Cup medals had already been added to his collection, and his peers selected him as the PFA Young Player of the Year for 2019-20.

He brought up 200 appearances for Liverpool on the second day of 2022 amid a season in which Klopp's charges came tantalisingly close to a quadruple, claiming glory in the Carabao Cup and FA Cup while finishing runners-up in the Premier League and Champions League.

Alexander-Arnold delivered a personal-best 18 assists across the campaign and started the final of the European Cup for a third time before the age of 24.

Difficulties marked much of Liverpool's 2022-23, though an upturn in fortunes towards the end of the season coincided with their right-back impressing in a hybrid system that saw him free to move into midfield.

A subsequent summer of change at Anfield saw Virgil van Dijk take the club's captain's armband and Alexander-Arnold was chosen by Klopp to be the Dutchman's deputy.

Liverpool again competed across multiple fronts during what proved to be Klopp's swansong year in charge, adding another Carabao Cup victory to the roll of honour, though injury prevented Alexander-Arnold from participating in the Wembley final this time.

He returned from England's runners-up finish at Euro 2024 to a new Reds project under Arne Slot and remained a fixture of the XI for the head coach, who masterminded a Premier League title triumph at the first time of asking.

There were 26 top-flight starts for Alexander-Arnold until an injury sustained against Paris Saint-Germain in March, as Slot's team steadily and confidently navigated their way to an unassailable advantage and a 20th championship in club history.

After the title was mathematically secured in late April, Alexander-Arnold announced his intention to leave the club upon the expiry of his contract that summer, and a transfer fee was then agreed with Real Madrid for him to join the Spanish side before then, in June 2025.

His Liverpool career therefore ended on 354 games, 23 goals, 86 assists and eight major trophies.