How Trent Alexander-Arnold wants to change professional football

In football, as much as one needs the talent to succeed, there is also the lucky side to it, and not many as far as Liverpool star, Trent Alexander-Arnold is concerned were lucky enough to take the leap from academy football to professional heights.

The Liverpool and England international footballer Trent Alexander-Arnold has spoken out about the lack of support for young players who are released from academy systems in professional football.

In an interview with The Athletic, Alexander-Arnold shared his own experience of being scouted by Liverpool at six years old and progressing through their academy system to earn a professional contract on his 17th birthday.

However, he also highlighted the experiences of some of his former teammates who were released and left without support or fallback options.

Alexander-Arnold believes that it’s time for change, calling for greater support for all players who are released from academy systems, from the Premier League down to League Two.

“Players get released and always will. That’s football. But I think for too long, there’s not been enough support,” he said. “There should be something in place for every single player.”

The statistics for young players making it as professional footballers are stark. Over 99% of those who sign for an academy aged nine fail to make it as a professional footballer, with only 180 out of an estimated 1.5 million boys who play organised youth football in England being signed professionally by a Premier League club. Even of those who make it into the elite scholarship programme at 16, five out of six are not playing professional football at 21.

Trent Alexander-Arnold draws experience from academy hopefuls who were released from the academy system with little communication or support from the club.

“I’m doing this because of stories like yours,” he told The Athletic, referring to the author’s own experience of being released from a League Two academy system. “He didn’t know where to go or what to do,” Alexander-Arnold said of his former Liverpool academy teammate Liam Robinson, who was also released at 16.

Trent Alexander-Arnold posted a video on Instagram last year asking former academy players about their experiences and how it had affected them.

He hopes that speaking out will lead to greater support for young players who are released from academy systems, and a change in the culture of professional football. “This is one of the biggest issues in football that isn’t being spoken about enough,” he said.