Trent Alexander-Arnold has surprisingly named former Manchester City youngster Brandon Barker as one of the toughest opponents he’s ever faced.
Alexander-Arnold is approaching his 300th appearance for Liverpool after making his debut seven years ago, and he has come up against a laundry list of world-class talent in that time. However, it’s forgotten City starlet Barker who still brings back the worst memories as he recalled a time the winger ‘destroyed’ him in an Under-21 fixture.
Local lad Barker joined the Blues at the age of eight and big things were expected of him as he rose through the club’s youth ranks with a series of thrilling performances from the left flank. In February 2016 he came up against Alexander-Arnold and tore him apart.
“I would say Brandon Barker,” Alexander-Arnold replied when asked by the We Are Liverpool Podcast to name a tough opponent people might not know about. “He played for City. I was 18 and I played for the [Under-] 21s for the first ever time at Anfield.
“We got beat 3-0 and he scored two and got an assist. He came off at 60 [minutes] and it was, still to this day, the opponent that I think just destroyed me, man.
“I had never had it like that before. At that point I’m thinking this kid is going to be the best player in the world because I’d never seen someone move so quickly and so sharp and effectively.”
Despite his potential, Barker would make just one senior appearance for City in a 5-1 fifth-round FA Cup defeat to Chelsea two weeks after that game at Anfield. He would spend much of the following three years on loan before a permanent switch to Rangers in 2019.
Barker was hailed as a massive signing by manager Steven Gerrard but would play just 27 times for the Glasgow giants as he struggled to truly break into the team before heading out on loan again. He would go on to join Reading for six months after being released in January 2022. He would then go on to spend a year in Cyprus at Neil Lennon’s Omonia Nicosia before being released again this past summer.
