3 days ago
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Photo by Rob Newell - CameraSport via Getty Images
Liverpool have rejected Madrid’s approach to sign Trent Alexander-Arnold in January. If he intended to stay, they probably wouldn’t have had to.
The headline will be that Liverpool have rejected an approach from Real Madrid to sign Trent Alexander-Arnold in January. The potentially more important subtext is that there probably wouldn’t be an approach to reject if Alexander-Arnold had any intention of staying at Liverpool beyond the end of the current season.
That’s the latest on the looming crisis for the club that sees them set to likely lose the best attacking fullback in the world, a boyhood Red born in West Derby who came up through the club’s academy and was key to countless achievements and memorable moments over the Jürgen Klopp era, on a free transfer to their European nemesis.
“Looking back on this era, although Manchester City have won more titles than Liverpool and have probably been more successful, our trophies will mean more to us and our fans because of the situations at both clubs financially,” Alexander-Arnold said a little less than ten months ago in March of 2024.
Leaving Liverpool for a free in the summer will leave them with a hold to fill at right back and no money from Madrid to help fill it with. It also stands in stark contrast to a pair of recent transfer stories that saw Liverpool as the buying club: Real Sociedad’s Martin Zubimendi and ex-Brighton midfielder Alexis Mac Allister.
Zubimendi made headlines this past summer when after accepting a transfer to Liverpool, the player went back on his word, unable to in the end abandon his boyhood club—a club, unlike Liverpool it should be pointed out, not positioned to pay top wages or compete for the game’s biggest trophies.
Meanwhile, Mac Allister agreed a contract extension with an achievable release clause in the final year of his Brighton deal in order to ensure the club wouldn’t lose him for nothing the following summer. In the end, Liverpool paid and triggered that release clause, the player joined the Reds, and Brighton were compensated.
The Alexander-Arnold story isn’t over yet, of course, and there are likely to be a few twists to it between now and wherever it does end. But for now some facts do seem clear: Liverpool have rejected Real Madrid’s approach to sign the player in January. And if he was going to stay, they probably wouldn’t have had to.
