Gareth Southgate slams press and defends Trent Alexander-Arnold agenda

Gareth Southgate has slammed suggestions he has an "agenda" against Trent Alexander-Arnold after naming the Liverpool full-back in England's Euro 2020 squad. The 22-year-old was included in the 26-man party for the finals on Tuesday despite strong reports 24 hours earlier he would be omitted. Alexander-Arnold was left out of England's last squad for their World Cup qualifiers in March, prompting fears he would miss out on this summer's tournament. However, Southgate has blasted rumours that suggest he has a problem with the Liverpool star. "I spoke with Trent about three weeks ago," said the England boss after the squad was announced. "The stories over the last couple of weeks that have ended up with lots of strange headlines and lots of strange stories, I've no idea where they have come from. "I felt there were stories that were so far off the truth. I would never normally speak to a player because I read a lot of stories about myself that aren't true, but I have to accept that's the job I'm in and people speculate and write it's exclusive. "But when it's a player, they might feel reading it that maybe it's true and the manager is speaking to the press behind their back. That's obviously not the case. "Even last night we are dealing with that and puzzled, because he is there taking set-pieces for the game tomorrow then he's reading that he's not going to the European Championships. I really don't understand it. For me, it's no drama, I accept as England manager this is what I deal with. That's the world I live in. "But for my players, I want to protect them. We are having to speak to Trent last night to say 'look, we don't know where this is all coming from, it's nonsense'. "People then jump on it and say I have an agenda and I don't like the kid. It's an incredible situation really but, as I say, not bothered about it from my point of view, but I always think about the players." Source- Liverpool ECHO Join us on Telegram!/ Follow us on Twitter!

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