Redefining the role...

HERE is no harder place for a Liverpool player to make his full Premier League debut for the club.

- By JOE RIMMER

But that's exactly what Trent Alexander-Arnold did in 2017 when, aged just 18, he was picked at right-back to face Manchester United at Old Trafford.

Nathaniel Clyne had been Jurgen Klopp's first choice in the right-back position that year but with the former Crystal Palace player injured, Alexander-Arnold was thrust into the spotlight having played just a League Cup tie against Tottenham Hotspur less than three months earlier, as well as a late substitute appearance against Middlesbrough in a comfortable 3-0 win.

Talk about being thrown into the deep end.

But he showed himself far from a weak link in a Liverpool side still improving under their German manager.

Jose Mourinho could not exploit his age or inexperience. He defied the odds, and he has been proving people wrong ever since.

There were nerves, but Alexander-Arnold stood tall as Liverpool defended a 27th-minute lead courtesy of a James Milner penalty and while Zlatan Ibrahimovic struck late to give United a share of the spoils, it was a solid start as far as Alexander-Arnold was concerned.

Who would have predicted what followed? Even those who clearly rated him so highly at the Academy - Pep Lijnders was a huge admirer and pushed Klopp to bring him into the first team - may have struggled to foresee the success he'd go on to have.