Private school at 13... England star at 19! Alexander-Arnold's parents drummed education into him

There may be a reason why Trent Alexander-Arnold appears so grounded. He still lives at home with his family and mum, Dianne, ensures that he still pitches in with household chores.

'I help round the place,' he says. With what? 'The hoovering' he claims. 'I'm not the best!' he confesses.

Maybe that explains the level head, as you could be forgiven for thinking the year this 19-year-old has just experienced was entirely normal, so composed is he as he reflects on establishing himself in the Liverpool team, playing in a Champions League final, making his England debut and playing in the World Cup.

Trent Alexander-Arnold enjoyed a rapid rise last season both for Liverpool and England

However, despite his whirlwind season, the Liverpool youngster has remained very grounded

Alexander-Arnold as a school boy at St Mary's with Morgan Feeney, who is now at Everton

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Or maybe it is the overall influence of his parents, Dianne and Michael. Alexander-Arnold references them throughout this interview. He has joked about how his mum was on his case during the World Cup, texting him with helpful reminders such as to apply sun screen. They seemingly never let him lose his perspective, nor his brothers Tyler, 23, and Marcel, 16.

'I feel I've been very lucky,' he says. 'My mum and dad drove education. Still to this day, they drive my little brother to keep pushing on as well. My elder brother too, he's hard on my younger brother to push on because education is a necessity in life, to have a good foundation and to get a good job. My mum and dad pushed me to work hard in my earlier years in education. If I wasn't in football I'd probably still be in education, probably studying something sports-related.'

He attended private school, St Mary's in Crosby, from nine until he was 13, when he moved to Rainhill High because of its link with Liverpool's academy and passed seven GCSEs. He took two GCSEs while in Belgium with the Under-16 England team, his parents and school arranging for remote supervision.

'When I was growing up I was focused on football and school. The most important thing for me is education and my family were really supportive in making sure I did the best I could. My mum and dad always knew that my dream was to be a footballer but they also warned me that it doesn't always work out.

Alexander-Arnold played a pivotal role in helping Liverpool reach the Champions League final

The right back shows his dejection after losing to Real Madrid 3-1 in Champions League final

'Obviously, it's every young boy's dream to be a footballer but it's only one or two per cent who are lucky enough to see that dream come true. The odds are stacked against you becoming a footballer so my family made sure I always had a back-up plan.'

But Alexander-Arnold has been turning heads for a while. Not just in football, either. Derek Williams, his former PE teacher at St Mary's School, tells the story of the try he scored for their rugby team at Colwyn Bay. It was his first game and he was unsure what to do. Williams put him at full-back and told him: 'Stay in line with the ball.'

The opposition, Rydal, kicked off and the ball fell to Alexander-Arnold. He gathered it and, from that point on, there was no catching him. As Williams tells it, he flew down the pitch and had scored the first try within 10 seconds. A South African coach and significant player in rugby's semi-pro circles who was looking on, turned to Williams and said: 'Derek, that boy can run, mate!' Alexander-Arnold said: 'I used to play rugby quite a lot when I was in year seven and eight.'

With pace like his, he soon moved out to the wing. In the football team he was centre forward, playing in the same team as Everton's Morgan Feeney.

Chess is his preferred choice of downtime, however, with his Liverpool team-mate Ben Woodburn a regular opponent. Growing up in West Derby, just round the corner from Liverpool's training ground, he is the ultimate home-grown player.

But it is the long pauses that give the game away when assessing Alexander-Arnold's past year. Asked to pick a highlight and he stops to think. It is a good 20 seconds before he can articulate what has just passed. 'I think seeing my family smile at the World Cup,' he says. 'Not many people can say their family has seen them play at the World Cup.'

Alexander-Arnold celebrates with Ben Woodburn in Rome after progressing to the final

He has crammed seven years' worth of life experience in the past 12 months. He has played holding midfield but is an excellent right-back or wing-back, where he should play on Tuesday in England's game against Switzerland at Leicester. He is so quick that few wingers can match him. Ask to name one and there is another telling pause.

'Marcus Rashford,' he offers, eventually. 'He's probably the fastest in the league. But it's not just out and out pace. It's getting you off balance, that's when they get you. It's not just a foot race. Get you off balance, then your body shape's not right and they're gone.'

Still, he is grateful he does not have to face Sadio Mane or Mo Salah. 'I get the punishment they dish out in training,' he says. 'At least it's not in front of the TV cameras on a Saturday night.'

A few years ago, had you seen a couple of Liverpool academy coaches giving a teenage trainee a particularly hard time in training, you might have been tempted to think the treatment was a bit regressive. At times Alexander-Arnold might have felt as though he was being picked on. He would have been right.

'When I was a bit younger, I used to show my emotions too much,' he says. 'That was a thing I needed to get rid of because I showed the opposition I was angry or disappointed. That's when you start to get targeted. Too much emotion can work against you.'

The 19-year-old in action against Belgium midfielder Marouane Fellaini at the World Cup

The Liverpool youngster admits he 'enjoyed every minute' of the World Cup in Russia

So Liverpool's academy coaches, Neil Critchley and Alex Inglethorpe, went to work. They knew they had a jewel. After all, he had been with the club since the age of six. He just needed polishing.

'They helped train that out of me,' he says. 'It was in the season before I was introduced to the first team that they really worked with me a lot on that. It's down to them that I'm now more level-headed and I'm trying to compose myself more on the pitch. I would take it out on myself [if I misplaced a pass] and maybe let my head go down for two or three seconds. The way they did it was to target me in training and to try and get into my head with the way they speak and putting players against me who would get the best of me.

'It was a hard situation in training and I didn't like it. There were times when we fell out but they always told me that they did not mind falling out with me for a week or so if it was going to better me in the long run. Looking back now, it was the perfect way of going about it. I can only thank them so much for the things they have done. I wouldn't be where I'm now without their help.'

In retrospect, Alexander-Arnold's 2017-18 season might have appeared a meteoric rise. In reality, there were set-backs, such as this time last year at Manchester City and in March, against Manchester United and Crystal Palace, when he still looked too raw to take on the likes of Leroy Sane in a Champions League quarter-final.

'If you look back before the two City games in the Champions League, there was Man United away and Palace away where Marcus Rashford and Wilfried Zaha gave me a tough time. A lot of people might have doubted me and doubted whether I was ready for the Champions League, but I went out there with a point to prove.

Alexander-Arnold says Marcus Rashford matches him for pace and is the 'fastest in the league'

'Hopefully I showed everyone that I was capable of playing in those types of big matches and why the manager had trust in me. The season wasn't always smooth. There were ups and downs. But thankfully there were more ups than downs.

'It's nice to get good feedback and important to get the constructive criticism as well. Every player deserves the praise when they should get it and the criticism when they deserve it as well. I think in my mind there's only ever one person who has affected me in that way and it's the manager. His word goes and he's the one who makes the decisions and the choices. Whatever he says I have to listen to most and pay attention to.'

His coolness under questioning belies the sheer excitement of the past year and his World Cup experience, where he played the group game against Belgium. 'I enjoyed every minute of it,' he says. 'Just being around the England team and being able to experience and be part of the special journey that meant so much to the country.'

He says it was not really until he was on a family holiday in Los Angeles in July that he could reflect on his experiences. 'I tried not to think about it too much during the season,' he says. 'There came a time when we were away and I was able to sit down and think about how everything has changed in the last 12 months. How much progress I have made and how much more I can give to it and how much more I can improve.'

Yet none of it would have happened were he not playing at a club where the manager has shown faith in young British talent.

'Lads who are coming through now will look at what Jurgen Klopp is about and realise they are close to that dream,' he says. 'Knowing you have a manager who is willing to play you and show you a pathway is so important.'

You never know, it might even catch on at other clubs.

The grounded Englishman has paid tribute to his Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp

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