Liverpool defender Trent Alexander-Arnold has opened up about the challenges academy players face and the lessons he learned from the club’s academy.

Alexander-Arnold is one of Liverpool’s most successful academy stories in recent years.

The Liverpool vice-captain joins the likes of Steven Gerrard, Jamie Carragher, and Michael Owen as a few of the players that have gone from the club’s academy to enjoy success at the senior level.

Since making his Liverpool debut in October 2016, the 26-year-old has grown in leaps and bounds at the club.

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He has amassed over 300 appearances for the Reds and remains a key figure for the club.

However, Alexander-Arnold is aware of the challenges of succeeding as a pro footballer.

Like many other players, he joined Liverpool as a boy.

But while he has gone on to fulfil his footballing dreams of playing for Liverpool, not many of his colleagues at the academy have succeeded.

Knowing the difficulty of breaking into the first teams, Alexander-Arnold launched The After Academy initiative earlier this year.

The initiative strives to help former academy players advance their careers and learn vital life skills for the future.

The England full-back is working with Google and funding a business course specifically designed for youngsters that don’t make it into the professional football ranks, with Liverpool, Red Bull, The PFA, Therabody, Adidas, Versus and Hugo Boss also partnering with the new initiative.

Speaking to Sky Sports about academy football, Alexander-Arnold shared how difficult it is for academy players to break into the first team and how the academy prepares them for life after football.

What Trent Alexander-Arnold said

Trent Alexander Arnold was speaking on Sky Sports’ Chasing the Dream episode 2 – The Route to the Top, and he shared that every player has ‘more chances of winning the lottery than making it as a professional footballer.”

When asked what the pressure was like for him making the step up so young from academy football to the first-team, the Liverpool defender said:

“There’s nothing like it.

The same goes for to every single player.

“It was like the respect I had for them was like, ‘Okay, I need to be at your level.’

“In the academy, you see players go and train with the first team once or twice, and then they are back down.

“That was, for me, the biggest fear I had.

And I always thought to myself, once I am in and around the first team, I don’t want to ever go back.”

Alexander Arnold also spoke about what it is like being in the Liverpool academy.

“You get elite coaching, elite advice, elite nutrition.

You have to kinda outwork them and be better than them because you have to fight for your next contract and make it to the next step.”

The Liverpool defender also revealed that the competitiveness in the academy was needed to prepare academy players for life even if they did not make it as a pro footballer.

“I think that is a good thing because whether you do or don’t make it, you’re prepared for life itself.

Real Madrid have been repeatedly linked with making a move in the New Year.

Liverpool remain hopeful of tying him down to fresh terms, with conversations continuing behind the scenes.

You can watch the full video here…

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