Trent Alexander-Arnold's top 10 Liverpool moments: From that quickly-taken corner at Anfield to a record-breaking contribution to the Reds ending their 30-year title drought

Jurgen Klopp was recently asked to name his best signing as Liverpool manager. He went with Alexander-Arnold, even though he was an academy product. Klopp also gave most of the credit for the teenager's promotion to the senior squad to assistant Pep Lijnders, who had coached Alexander-Arnold at Under-16s level and was convinced that the club had a multi-talented prodigy on their hands.

"Pep said 'He played No.6 for me, he played full-back, he can play right wing, left wing,'" Klopp told the Pure Football podcast. "If you hear something like that you should be a little bit skeptical, ‘Okay... and what else?!' But then he came and there was only one problem: he was not fit enough. But he was a kid and when you saw him, 'wow!' Football-wise, no doubts, but not fit enough."

So, while Alexander-Arnold was named on the bench for Liverpool's Premier League opener at Arsenal on August 15, 2016 after a rigorous pre-season programme, he didn't actually feature in the League Cup games against Burton Albion and Derby County, and only found out he was in the starting line-up for the fourth-round clash with Tottenham on October 25 the day before the game at Anfield.

Alexander-Arnold subsequently admitted himself that he was a little too eager to impress and was a tad lucky to avoid a red card for a poor challenge on Ben Davies, but he nonetheless caught the eye with his dynamism and confidence on the ball.

Klopp has admitted that he had no idea that Alexander-Arnold would go on to become the best attacking full-back in Premier League history, but the German did have full "trust and faith" in him from a very early age. Consequently, Klopp had no qualms about turning to Alexander-Arnold after Nathaniel Clyne was forced to pull out of the Premier League meeting with Manchester United at Old Trafford on January 15, 2017 through injury.

"He didn't look too surprised, to be honest," the ex-Reds boss later explained. "Not that he expected it, he just wasn't too nervous."

Hardly surprising, then, that Alexander-Arnold impressed on his first Premier League start, playing all 90 minutes of a 1-1 draw with Liverpool's biggest rivals. "It was the first big step for him," Klopp said. "And a very important step for us as well."

Liverpool won a free-kick in a central position some 30 metres from the Hoffenheim goal in the 35th minute of the first leg of their 2017 Champions League play-off at the Rhein-Neckar-Arena. Unsurprisingly for a kid making his European debut, Alexander-Arnold didn't initially put his hand up to take it. But after being encouraged to do so by captain Jordan Henderson, the full-back lifted the ball over the wall and into the bottom corner of the net.

"Obviously, it's the stuff of dreams to make your European debut for your boyhood club - and to mark it with a goal as well was very special for me," Alexander-Arnold told BT Sport.

As for Henderson, he felt the goal was just reward for all of the hard work the 18-year-old was putting in on the training pitch: "He was outstanding last season and he has come back and gone up another level again in pre-season. The free-kick is no coincidence either. He has been doing that every day in training for the last few weeks!"

During the tail end of Klopp's reign, he would often move Alexander-Arnold into midfield during games - and usually to great effect. Nowhere was this play more thrillingly executed than at Anfield on December 3, 2023, when Liverpool came from two goals down with three minutes of normal time remaining to win 4-3.

Alexander-Arnold had effectively started the scoring, by hitting the crossbar with a first-half free that ricocheted into the back of the net off Bernd Leno, before then firing home the winner in the dying seconds.

"I'm not sure I have to say anything about him," Klopp told reporters afterwards. "Nobody is in doubt how highly I think about Trent. The development is crazy. His shooting skills, we knew before, but today he was a real leader on the pitch – that's probably the biggest improvement in him.

"Because it was super-intense but it got kind of another push when you put him a bit more inside in that moment. But he's very often in half-spaces in the centre and stuff like this, so it was just really good. But he was a real leader on the pitch – that was most important thing."

Klopp always said that his dream was for Liverpool to be able to field "a team full of Scousers". He never quite managed that lofty ambition, of course, but he did name a local lad captain of a side packed with academy products for a Champions League clash with FC Midtjylland on December 9, 2020. In doing so, Alexander-Arnold became Liverpool's youngest-ever European captain at 22 years and 63 days old.

"To lead the team out was an incredible moment for me," the defender admitted. "It was something that was different, new to me. It was special, it felt special out there. You've obviously got to give thanks to the manager and the staff who chose me to captain the team. It was a really proud night for me on a personal note. I think I'll always look back on tonight with fond memories after being captain for the first time."

Usually, a player only gets to take home the match ball if he scores three goals in the same game. However, an exception was made for Alexander-Arnold on February 27, 2019, after Liverpool's 20-year-old right-back became the youngest player in Premier League history to provide three assists in the same game.

"It was special," Klopp said after the 5-0 win over Watford at Anfield. "I don't think I was ever part of a game where somebody had a hat-trick of assists and he wanted the match ball, so he got it because it was really cool."

Liverpool's fans felt so too, as they collectively lauded "the Scouser in our team" for the first time.

"I was having a really good game, to be fair," Alexander-Arnold later said in an interview with The Athletic. "Everything I was crossing was hitting the targets and putting in some really good deliveries. But when the fans started singing that song in the second half, it was an amazing feeling."

There wasn't a team in the Premier League that could live with Liverpool during the 2019-20 season. The Reds were simply operating on a whole other level to everyone else and, after returning from Qatar with the Club World Cup trophy, they effectively killed the title race by crushing second-placed Leicester City at the King Power Stadium on Boxing Day.

Roberto Firmino scored twice on the night, but Alexander-Arnold was the star of the show, creating both of the Brazilian's goals before scoring one himself with a terrific low strike.

"Trent is getting better all the time," team-mate James Milner told Amazon Prime after Liverpool took a massive step towards their first top-flight title since 1990. "He is unbelievable and there is plenty more to come from him."

Some things are just meant to be. With Liverpool struggling to break down Leicester City at the King Power Stadium in mid-April, Slot brought the fit-again Alexander-Arnold off the bench for the full-back's first appearance since reports that he had agreed to join Real Madrid at the end of the season. Consequently, there was some doubt over how he might be received by the travelling Reds.

Alexander-Arnold, though, was greeted like a returning hero, with the away fans hailing the return of "The Scouser in our team", clearly believing that there might still be time to convince him to stay. Alexander-Arnold replied to that show of support in the best possible fashion by firing home the winning goal - with his left foot - with just 14 minutes remaining.

"I have said all season that I am not going to speak on my situation," he told Sky Sports. "I am not going to go into the details. But days like today are always special. Scoring goals, playing games, winning games, winning titles - they are special moments for me and I am glad to do my part.

“Virgil [van Dijk] told me to soak it in. I have scored a few goals here at this stadium. We are so close to winning the title now and the first game back from injury as well, it was an important game for me. It's probably the one type of goal that I was missing, but I was saving it for the right time! We are so close to winning - just one win away now. To do that, especially with the fans here, is a very, very special moment."

After a 30-year wait, extended by a suspension of play caused by the pandemic, Liverpool were finally crowned champions of England again on the night of July 22, 2020. Their 19th top-flight title had been confirmed with seven rounds remaining but, as is custom, they didn't actually lift the Premier League trophy until after their final home game of the season, against Chelsea.

Alexander-Arnold marked the historic occasion with another fantastic performance, scoring a stunning first-half free-kick before then breaking his own Premier League assists record for a defender by teeing up Roberto Firmino for Liverpool's fourth goal in a thrilling 5-3 win.

For Alexander-Arnold, though, the result was largely irrelevant. The only thing that really mattered to him was getting his hands on the one piece of silverware he had craved more than any other.

"I'd trade all my trophies in just for this one," Alexander-Arnold, who finished the season with 13 assists, told Sky Sports. "And to be able to finally get this medal around my neck is a special feeling especially after 30 years of waiting for it.

"We've come close so many times and not been able to get across the line. I think now it's so special to be part of such a special club and I'm grateful for every opportunity I've been given."

According to Alexander-Arnold, the most famous quickly-taken corner in football history was "just instinctive". It was also pure genius, though.

With Barcelona still in a state of shock after an injury-hit Liverpool had wiped out a 3-0 first-leg deficit inside an hour of the return clash of their Champions League semi-final at Anfield, Alexander-Arnold pretended he was leaving a corner for someone else to take with just over 10 minutes of normal time remaining. As a result, the visitors switched off for a split-second, diverting their attention away from the set-piece and towards the players arriving into their area.

By the time they realised that Alexander-Arnold had already whipped over a near-post cross, it was already too late, with Gerard Pique & Co. powerless to prevent Divock Origi sweeping home the tie's decisive goal in front of an ecstatic Kop.

"It was just one of those things where you see the opportunity and obviously Div was switched on to finish it off," Alexander-Arnold added. "But I think everyone will remember this moment."