“I think Mo has said already a few things about why he was in my office in pre-season and there were similar reasons why Trent was in my office in the beginning of the season!” he explained.

“Maybe he said it himself, he’s going to leave either way so why not tell. Maybe it’s already a first gift I can give Xabi Alonso.



“I wasn’t completely happy with every single minute how he was on the training ground.

“In my opinion in certain moments he could do a bit more, to say it mildly, and that’s what we talked about.

“Combined with that I said to him: ‘You are a much better defender than everybody tells you, unfortunately you don’t show it all the time, that’s why people sometimes say you are not’.

“If he is just at it and focused and concentrated, there are not many players that can go around him, because he’s fast, he’s agile, he has great mentality.

“But it’s about showing that every single game, because in this world we are judged not only on the 34 games we do well, we are mainly judged on the four games we don’t do so well.

“These things we spoke about in pre-season.”

https://www.thisisanfield.com/2025/05/arne-slot-reveals-early-talks-with-trent-alexander-arnold-i-wasnt-completely-happy/