Gareth Southgate has expressed his disappointment, stating that it is 'highly frustrating' that Trent Alexander-Arnold is not fit to participate in the final international break before the upcoming European Championship this summer.
The Liverpool vice-captain has been sidelined since the Reds' 3-1 win over Burnley in February, missing the last nine games with a knee injury.
Despite being at Wembley on Saturday, the 25-year-old was forced into a watching brief, which is something that has become a recurring theme during his England career.
Widely described as a stop-start one to this point, the Liverpool defender's journey with the Three Lions has been plagued with frequent interruptions, evident in his modest tally of only 23 caps since his debut nearly six years ago.
Given the apparent preference for Kyle Walker and Kieran Trippier at right-back for England, Alexander-Arnold has started in midfield during several Euro 2024 qualifiers over the past year.
Southgate was eager to persist with the experiment before the commencement of this summer's Euros in this month's friendlies against Brazil and Belgium, but those plans were derailed by Alexander-Arnold's current knee injury.
Having also missed games against Scotland and Belgium last month due to a hamstring problem, the 25-year-old has not had the opportunity to prove to the England boss that he can thrive in midfield against tougher opposition.
Arguably, the best England midfield trio on paper is composed of Declan Rice, Jude Bellingham and Alexander-Arnold.
However, for now, it seems that the likelihood of seeing those three playing together in the English engine room remains more of an idea than a tangible reality, as they have never started together as a central trio.
England will also have two warm-up matches against Bosnia-Herzegovina and Iceland before heading to Germany, but the Three Lions manager has acknowledged that it might be too late to experiment with the exciting trio by then.
"The midfield thing we've seen, but we've missed two opportunities with September and now this one that is really frustrating because there's so much that's unknown about it at the minute," Southgate said.
"As you know, I've liked the idea for a long time but we're going to be trialling it when we haven't seen it in a really high level game. So we'll just have to see where we can go with it."
The transition into a midfield role seems inevitable for the Liverpool vice-captain, who already regularly steps into the middle of the park when his side is in possession, showing off his playmaking skills and exceptional passing ability.
However, Southgate has emphasised that this is not equivalent to playing as a dedicated midfielder in a competitive tournament match.
For Liverpool, though, Conor Bradley's emergence at right-back during Alexander-Arnold's absence will prompt Jurgen Klopp's successor to consider the optimal utilisation of the Reds' No.66 next season.
