Real Madrid manager Jose Mourinho kept all his cards close to his chest when asked about whether a Trent Alexander-Arnold midfield experiment is on the horizon for the match against Inter.
Real Madrid play Inter on Tuesday night, and they are currently without three of their midfielders. Eduardo Camavinga, Arda Guler and Bernardo Silva are all suspended from the game, while Aurelien Tchouameni is still injured and will probably remain out of the game. Thiago Pitarch could be back, but it does not seem like he would be ready for a game of this magnitude immediately after coming back.
When asked about it, Mourinho refused to give the journalist the whole spill, as he kept his biggest trump card close to his body.
He said: “I’m not going to tell you in person. I could spend minutes here talking about this, but I prefer to be honest with you.
All three players aren’t available, I know... the algorithm has chosen this match to be played under these circumstances, and although your question is obvious, that’s where we are.
We have three, four, five options. We could be here discussing all of them, but in the end, I’m not going to say anything.”
Trent Alexander-Arnold could actually help Real Madrid as a midfielder
This situation leaves Mourinho with just Fede Valverde and Jude Bellingham as the two main central midfielders at the club, and the feeling is that Mourinho would probably want Bellingham to play as a 10, in front of these two midfielders.
If that ends up happening, it will have to be Trent who starts alongside Valverde in midfield, just behind his English counterpart.
Obviously, this is an experiment that has been tried by Gareth Southgate, Jurgen Klopp and the like, so Mourinho would not be the first manager to think of his long-range passing as an asset to the team’s current midfield.
It would make the most obvious sense to have Trent in the lineup in that context, but there is a reason why more teams don’t play him in that position for too long. The first is that he is an exceptional right-back, but also because playing as a midfielder is genuinely difficult, and he is not able to provide his best there. Trent flourishes when he is playing as a right-back who has license to drift inward.
However, it has been a while since fans have seen that, and against the defensive coverage of Inter, Trent playing as a midfielder might actually end up helping the club more than hurting them.
It remains to be seen what actually happens with this situation, but it could be that Mourinho has found his new midfielder for the big Champions League clash.
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