Jurgen Klopp defends ‘exceptional’ Trent Alexander-Arnold after his latest snub with Gareth Southgate and England

Jurgen Klopp believes giving his honest opinion on Gareth Southgate’s handling of Trent Alexander-Arnold would have a negative impact on England’s preparations ahead of their World Cup campaign in Qatar.

Alexander-Arnold was included in England’s squad for the latest international break but did not play a single minute in either the 1-0 defeat to Italy or the 3-3 draw with Germany.

Reece James appears to be the frontrunner to start on England’s right flank for the World Cup, while Southgate even admitted this week that Kieran Tripper is ahead of Alexander-Arnold in his pecking order.

Klopp has made it clear that he disagrees with Southgate’s decision and has hit back at suggestions that the 23-year-old is a poor defender.

The Liverpool manager also believes England could play with both Alexander-Arnold and James as the Chelsea defender has experience of playing on the right side of a back three under Thomas Tuchel.

When asked about Southgate’s decision to not play Alexander-Arnold in either Nations League game for England, Klopp said during his press conference on Friday: ‘Do you really want to open this box? I mean it.

‘You’re an English journalist, and we can now discuss selections, whatever, until the World Cup starts, it’s one of the reasons why you make massive stories of these kind of things, why the team cannot prepare properly.

‘If you ask me for my honest opinion, it will create headlines, that’s clear.

‘You want that? It helps Germany, maybe, I’m not sure, but it doesn’t help England. I don’t know why we do that.

‘It’s a situation – a manager picks a player or not, which I would decide, obviously, differently but I’m not in charge of this team and that’s the way it is.

‘If you want to discuss it, I have a lot of things