General view inside the stadium prior to the Premier League match between Liverpool and Everton at Anfield on September 20, 2025 in Liverpool, England.placeholder image
General view inside the stadium prior to the Premier League match between Liverpool and Everton at Anfield on September 20, 2025 in Liverpool, England. | Liverpool FC via Getty Images
Not many fans would agree on what Liverpool’s best XI is, but who is the club’s best right-back?
Football has forever been a hotly debated subject with even the most obvious answer still likely to cause friction.
Phil Neal or Trent Alexander-Arnold as Liverpool’s best right-back?
Emotion aside, another debate that is topical given recent events at Anfield is, who is Liverpool’s greatest ever right-back, Phil Neal or Trent Alexander-Arnold? Two completely different generations, two completely different types of player but two who contributed enormously to successful periods in Liverpool’s history.
Alexander-Arnold packed his bags for Real Madrid with 92 assists, 23 goals and 354 appearances under his belt, he also left with two Premier League titles and one each of every other major trophy including the Champions League and Club World Cup. Despite the numbers though, there were always questions about his defensive ability, something that can’t be thrown as an accusation at Neal.
With 649 games and 23 trophies, including eight Premier League titles (First Division as it was known) and four Champions Leagues (or European Cups). On top of this, Neal also went 417 games without missing one. He maybe wasn’t first name on the team sheet, but his name was always on the team sheet.
Neal might not have had the same attacking numbers but football was a different game when he was operating on Liverpool’s right. Not that he wasn’t capable of contributing in the final third but his primary role was to stop wingers and it was an attribute that he could count as one of his strongest. He still scored 59 goals and provided 42 assists for the Reds. A total of 50 England caps when they were a lot harder to come by shows how highly regarded he was during his peak too.
Why is Phil Neal the right choice?
Alexander-Arnold is currently on 34-caps and he has already been playing for England as long as Neal did in total. Gareth Southgate might have been more conservative, however, under Thomas Tuchel, he is even further down the pecking order when he should be at his peak. A decisive indicator is the mindset of those who saw both right-backs play and, according to Jamie Carragher, there is only one winner.
Asked on The Overlap podcast for his best Liverpool XI, Carragher’s mind was made up.
“Right-back, [options are] Phil Neal or Trent [Alexander-Arnold],” Carragher stated. When you think of players who played for say AC Milan and stuff like that, we go, ‘He’s won the European Cup four or five times’, we go, ‘Wow, Madrid and Barca players’ – Phil Neal won four European Cups, it’s unbelievable that.
“I think if I was asked this question at the end of Trent’s career I’d probably say Trent, but I will go with Phil Neal for the fact that he’s won four European Cups.”
During his 11-year stay at Anfield, Neal made 649 appearances for the club, winning 23 trophies along the way. Now that Alexander-Arnold is no longer a Red, it’s an even easier decision.
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