Liverpool defender Trent Alexander-Arnold saw off competition from Manchester United’s Marcus Rashford and Chelsea’s Christian Pulisic to win the Premier League’s TAG Heuer Young Player of the Season award.
Alexander-Arnold, 21, was the only English player on the shortlist and becomes the first player to win the inaugural award
The full-back was instrumental in helping Liverpool lift their first league title in 30 years and contributed 13 assists and four goals in the league.
The England international also beat United’s Anthony Martial and Mason Greenwood, Chelsea’s Mason Mount, Aston Villa’s Jack Grealish and Sheffield United’s Dean Henderson to the prize.
The Premier League saw a rise in the number of young English players last season with more than a third who started eligible for selection for the national team.
A total of 62 homegrown players made their debuts last season — 21 more than the 2019-20 campaign.
Alexander-Arnold is also up for the Premier League Player of the Season alongside teammates Jordan Henderson and Sadio Mane.
Alexander-Arnold who began his romance with Liverpool from the youth team in 2004 advanced to the senior team in 2016 and has continued to rise to the occasion for the club ever since. Aside from playing football,
Alexander-Arnold is also an avid chess player, having been introduced to the sport by his father as a youngster, and in 2018 he played an invitational match against world champion Magnus Carlsen.
The match, which was played as part of a campaign to promote the sport, ended in defeat for Alexander-Arnold after seventeen moves; eight more than technology entrepreneur Bill Gates managed when he faced Carlsen in 2014.
![Striker could leave Aston Villa this summer, manager treatment to blame [Opinion]](https://www.wazupnaija.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/striker-could-leave-aston-villa-this-summer-manager-treatment-to-blame-opinion-327x219.jpg)
