At 23, he is the youngest ever player in English football to win every major honour. He’s also Liverpool’s most important creative threat.
Yet the narrative is still that Trent Alexander-Arnold can’t defend. It is bizarre, to the point of being perverse, given that, y’know, he’s amongst the greatest in his position this country has ever seen.
If he were Brazilian, he’d be bracketed with Roberto Carlos… his wand of a right foot, so evident here at Wembley, a thing of sheer, unadulterated beauty.
One quite outrageous pass with the outside of the foot, to dissect the Chelsea defence and give the incredible Luis Diaz yet another run on goal, was the moment of this magnificent FA Cup final.
Yet you could argue equally that the young ‘defender’ almost matched that with a wondrous trophy-saving tackle on Christian Pulisic. In fact, there were three such hugely important, last-ditch saves from Alexander-Arnold which will surely go down in Liverpool folklore.
Can’t defend? Tell that to Chelsea. Not that he’s bothered of course. Not with all those honours on his mum’s mantlepiece (ok, they’re probably in a bank vault but it’s a nice image).
He’s the Scouser in the team too, the only one if you discount the Greek Scouser penalty shoot-out hero Kostas Tsimikas - or “Scouser Greek” as he called himself gleefully afterwards.
He was plucked from the youth ranks by Jurgen Klopp five years ago, the skinny kid who dreamed big even at that age given his first Premier League start against Manchester United at Old Trafford of all places.
It has been an incredible journey since then. As a boy he lived in the shadow of Liverpool’s training ground, and watched his heroes pass by the end of his road in their smart cars.
“Growing up you never think you will win all these trophies. You see legendary players who do that and you think it is unbelievable,” he said in the aftermath of this epic final.
Yet he has surpassed the lot of them, including his own hero Steven Gerrard, who never won the Premier League. By winning six trophies - the clean sweep of major honours - at 23, he has written history. And he wants more of it.
“It feels special to be honest. To be able to say I have done that at such a young age is a dream come true and it is motivation to go on and carry on winning more trophies,” he said with typical hunger.
“Hopefully there are a lot more trophies to come. The motivation is to win them all again and keep winning and keep adding to the trophy cabinet.”
You forget Alexander-Arnold is still so young. Yet he has been schooled so well by Klopp and by the senior pros at Anfield such as Jordan Henderson and the marvel that is James Milner.
With his medal still dangling around his neck there was pride in his achievement, but he wants more. So much more…if that is even possible.
“Five years ago if anyone had told me I would achieve what I have achieved I don’t know what I would have said to be honest,” he said.
“It is very special but, hopefully, in five more years I am in an even better place than I am now.
It has not gone too bad so far. Five or 10 years’ time and we will hopefully be talking about bigger and better things.”
The hope is, Gareth Southgate was watching this final. Because the man who has done so much to extend the myth about Alexander-Arnold’s defending, would have to eat his words.
