Real Madrid right back Trent Alexander-Arnold needed some time to get acclimated to his new team and to La Liga, but by the end of the season, he was one of the most impressive players on the team and showed a level of passing quality that not even Arda Guler possesses in this side.
Had the forwards, particularly a slumping Kylian Mbappe, been more up to it in the final months of the season, Trent would have registered significantly more than the four assists he ended up with in his debut season at Real Madrid. He was spraying through balls, pinpoint cross field passes, and whipped line drives into the channels with ease, looking every bit that wide playmaker and auxilliary midfielder in possession that he was at Anfield.
Now, though, the gauntlet has been set by Jose Mourinho to Trent for the 2026/27 season, and he has a massive chip on his shoulder. Not only did Thomas Tuchel snub him from the World Cup team for Tottenham Hotspur backup Djed Spence, but Real Madrid also brought in another world class right back in Serie A champion Denzel Dumfries.
Real Madrid are lopsiding their back four
That being said, the master plan for Mourinho still points to a big role - and perhaps an even bigger role than last season - for the 27 year old England international. Because according to Mario Cortegana of The Athletic, after the signing of Marc Cucurella from Chelsea, Mourinho wants the right back to have more attacking freedom and the left back to be more of the defensive fullback in the system.
It is not the first time we have heard this from the Spanish press, and the somewhat lopsided back four formation is one that Real Madrid and other European powerhouses have used, particularly in the 2010s, to great success. Real Madrid had a bit of that at left back witih Marcelo and Alvaro Arbeloa at right back under Jose Mourinho the first time around, too.
But 2026/27 has a chance to have an even more marked disparity. Marc Cucurella is one of the best defensive fullbacks around, whereas Trent Alexander-Arnold is as attacking as it gets at right back. And the more freedom Trent has to play like a midfielder and play passes and through balls, the better he will play and the more chances he will create for Vinicius Junior and Kylian Mbappe, who love running behind for those passes.
Mourinho has a plan to unleash Trent as a playmaker, and though he did sign Denzel Dumfries as competition, bringing in someone like Cucurella to play on the left to stagger the formation is a sign that he is ready to use Trent to his fullest as an attacking right back.
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