"Purely because of that" - Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp reveals why he had to substitute Trent Alexander-Arnold
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has revealed the reason for substituting Trent Alexander-Arnold in the Reds' 0-0 stalemate against Crystal Palace.
The Merseyside giants suffered yet another poor result on Saturday as they could only salvage a 0-0 draw against Patrick Vieira's Crystal Palace side.
Liverpool came into the game on a mixed run of form, having won their last two Premier League games with clean sheets but suffering a 5-2 defeat against Real Madrid in the Champions League.
The Reds did not have the best day in office against Crystal Palace and could have easily suffered a defeat had the Eagles been more prolific.
Trent Alexander-Arnold did not have the best game until he was subbed off by Jurgen Klopp in the 71st minute having had a few nervy moments.
Klopp, however, insisted that the reason why he took the England international off was nothing but fatigue with the full-back playing so many games in quick succession.
The Liverpool manager has also insisted that Alexander-Arnold has been one of the better players for the Merseysiders in recent weeks. He said, as quoted by The Liverpool Echo:
“Trent plays all the games for us and before the game we thought whether it would be one game too much for him, but he started. The reason (to substitute him) was purely because of that. No. In the few games we won he was one of our much, much, much, much better players."
Klopp has also claimed that Alexander-Arnold gets unfairly criticized when Liverpool are not doing well.
The Reds boss has also claimed that the creative full-back has been excellent for them off late in terms of creativity. He added:
“Trent Alexander-Arnold, when he is not performing, everybody is talking about it. When he is performing nobody speaks about it apart from when he’s involved in goals. He set up super goals in the last two league games. He’s okay. It’s just the amount of games, we took him off and he will have a day longer to rest and he will be fine again.”
Alexander-Arnold has three goals and three assists in 32 games across competitions this campaign, which is pretty poor by his usual standards.
Barcelona add star to the list of targets as they plot interesting summer transfer
Barcelona have reportedly added Liverpool star Naby Keita to their list of summer transfer targets.
As reported by Spanish outlet Diario SPORT (h/t BarcaUniversal), Keita has emerged as a target for the Blaugrana as he looks set to be available on a free transfer.
The Catalan giants are also chasing the quartet of Leicester City's Youri Tielemans, Real Madrid playmaker Marco Asensio, Manchester City midfielder Ilkay Gundogan and Chelsea's N'Golo Kante.
Keita has struggled for fitness during his time at Liverpool since his £52 million move from RB Leipzig and has his contract expiring this summer.