Tottenham Hotspur midfielder James Maddison has claimed that he’s become ‘good friends’ with Trent Alexander-Arnold.
Maddison and Alexander-Arnold were on opposite ends of one of the Premier League’s worst ever officiating decisions recently, as Spurs beat Liverpool.
Since then, the Tottenham man has been trolling Liverpool’s right-back on Instagram. The two players exchanged some cheeky remarks having met up with England yesterday.
Asked by TalkSPORT about what he’s been saying to Trent during national team training, Maddison insisted it was just a case of ‘banter’ between friends.
“Nah, the conversation wasn’t anything to do with that [Liverpool vs Tottenham],” he claimed. “Just having a bit of banter with Trent. Trent is a good friend of mine, we get on really well. Tongue-in-cheek banter! That game is in the past, we were just having a little mess around.”
Maddison outlines Trent friendship
In a way it’s a little bit of a shame that Liverpool don’t have more players involved around the England camp at the moment.
For a little while now, it has only been Jordan Henderson and Alexander-Arnold who have been included in Gareth Southgate’s plans.
With Henderson obviously now no longer at the club, Trent is the Reds’ sole representative.
That could change at some stage soon, with Curtis Jones perhaps banging on the door for a call-up. But beyond the 22-year-old and potentially Harvey Elliott, there aren’t many prospects for Liverpool players.
Although forging friendships with national team colleagues isn’t what they’re footballers for, it would still benefit the likes of Jones and Elliott to play with the calibre of players the Three Lions have.
Maddison is a good example of that. Although he has just four caps, the £40m Spurs signing is a terrific playmaker who Jones in particular could learn from.
He doesn’t have much he can teach Trent about creating, or striking a ball, but if the Reds vice-captain could pass some tips onto Curtis, it would be appreciated!
