Gareth Southgate should reconsider signing Liverpool midfielder Trent Alexander-Arnold after his performance against North Macedonia. On Monday, he looked every bit the novice he is.

Trent Alexander-Arnold midfield peddlers will have rejoiced before of the game in Skopje when WhoScored revealed that the Liverpool star is the highest-rated England player in Euro 2024 qualifying. He had a very excellent 8.08 in three starts. Nobody else in England came close.

But it’s difficult to argue that Alexander-Arnold is crucial to England’s progress. The rating is misleading because he did not play against either Italy or Ukraine, their main competitors for qualifying, with his three starts coming against North Macedonia and Malta, both at home and away. Alexander-Arnold thrived in the face of mediocrity.

He was one of two players singled out for praise by Gareth Southgate following the win over Malta on Friday, and with reason. Alexander-Arnold will always be able to pick a pass and dictate play with space and time on the ball. But, as England manager Gareth Southgate said, it was a game in which his players “didn’t extend themselves” because they didn’t have to. This was not the case when they faced North Macedonia at Old Trafford, and Trent was found wanting.

“I haven’t had much experience in there, so I’m still learning on the job,” Alexander-Arnold said of his transfer to central midfield this week; that much was evident on Monday. with the first genuine evidence of pressure in the job he aspires to be selected for in Euro 2024, he demonstrated why, with his current level of education, he definitely shouldn’t make Germany’s squad. He played like a beginner.

He handed the ball away five times, three more than any other England player and five more than everyone else on the field. When North Macedonia broke in numbers, he was slow in possession, looked as if he didn’t know where he was meant to be out of it, and provided very little assistance for Declan Rice.

As his frustration grew in the second half, he dropped deep to collect the ball from Jordan Pickford, scuffed a crossfield pass to the opposition, found himself back in possession moments later, only to cede it again, in 15 seconds of football to sum up a game to forget in his midfield evolution. He was issued a yellow card for flinging the ball away just before being removed, maybe in frustration with his own performance as well as the referee’s decision.

Alexander-Arnold’s progression should not continue into a major tournament based on this performance. Whatever teams England is placed with when the draw is announced early next month, they will all be better than North Macedonia. And, against those superior sides, England would undoubtedly be better served by James Ward-Prowse as a right-back playing in midfield.

With Ward-Prowse in front of Alexander-Arnold, the set-piece delivery would certainly not suffer, and perhaps more due to the pressure he felt in open play on Monday, the Liverpool star’s radar wasn’t quite on point from dead-ball situations either, with England scoring from the first corner he didn’t take after three of his efforts came to nothing. That’s not to suggest Alexander-Arnold’s cross isn’t fantastic – it is – but Phil Foden is just one of the guys who might fill in admirably.

Except for Rico Lewis, whose penalty that wasn’t given skews the results significantly, no player had a lower rating on Monday than Alexander-Arnold’s 6.1. Trent should move from highest to lowest at the first hint of pressure; if he goes to Germany, he should play as a right-back.