Twenty-four hours before Real Madrid host Inter at the Santiago Bernabeu, their manager is weighing an experiment few would have predicted: using Alexander-Arnold as one of two central midfielders rather than at right-back.

The idea, according to reports in Spain, would put Alexander-Arnold on the ball as a deep-lying creator, with Valverde providing the running and defensive cover next to him. It is a solution born of necessity, not preference.

A midfield picked clean by red cards

Eduardo Camavinga, Arda Guler and Bernardo Silva are all suspended for the group-stage opener, with Guler and Camavinga carrying over red cards from last season’s Champions League defeat to Bayern Munich and Silva serving a ban picked up on his final European appearance for Manchester City, against Real Madrid themselves.

Tchouameni, meanwhile, has been nursing groin trouble for weeks and is not expected to make the squad. That leaves Valverde as the only fit senior central midfielder on the books for the Inter fixture.

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Mourinho’s alternatives are limited: pull Jude Bellingham deeper, invent a new role for one of his forwards, or hand Alexander-Arnold the keys to the middle of the pitch.

McManaman: the problem was the injuries, not the move

The debate around Alexander-Arnold’s start to life in Madrid has intensified since his summer move, and Steve McManaman, who made the same Liverpool-to-Real Madrid switch in 1999, has pointed at a different culprit than adaptation.

“The problem is that he had a lot of injuries last year. That was the problem. He had physical issues, and the team weren’t at their best either,” McManaman told Madrid Universal.

He also expects a change of tone this season.

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“I think he should be fine this year.”

McManaman argued that Alexander-Arnold is settling into the city itself rather than fighting the club.

“He knows he has to learn the language, settle in and enjoy his life in Madrid. And he’s doing just that.”

What a double pivot would actually ask of him

Deploying Alexander-Arnold in central midfield is not a wholly new conversation, his passing range at Liverpool made him one of the most productive ball-progressors in the Premier League, but he has almost never done the job in a Champions League knockout-standard fixture. Against Inter, the physical demand is different: pressing waves from Cristian Chivu’s side, midfield runners breaking beyond, and Nicolo Barella and Hakan Calhanoglu operating in tight areas.

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The upside, in Mourinho’s calculation, is the passing map. Real Madrid’s build-up has looked short of ideas in recent weeks, and Alexander-Arnold’s diagonal ball is one of the few in the squad that can turn a defence in a single movement.

Kick-off at the Bernabeu is at 9pm local time on Tuesday, 8 September.

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