Why Trent Alexander-Arnold’s Liverpool exit does not make him a traitor | OneFootball

They will always have the corner. Liverpool’s greatest moment in the two decades since Istanbul was the product of extreme creativity, preternatural calmness and a precocious talent who, on a surreal Anfield night, eliminated Lionel Messi and Barcelona. Trent Alexander-Arnold to Divock Origi, catching everyone else unaware, Liverpool 4 Barcelona 0, the Champions League’s most celebrated semi-final comeback, Jurgen Klopp’s favourite assist of his eight-and-a-half-years on Merseyside.

So Alexander-Arnold’s legacy at Liverpool was secure when he was barely out of his teens. And if one way of augmenting it was to become a lifer, to join Ian Callaghan, Jamie Carragher and Steven Gerrard in Anfield’s 700 club, it may be the vision that rendered him a unique right-back that, while nothing is formalised yet, will take him to Real Madrid. Alexander-Arnold has often looked long, launching some extraordinary passes over vast distances. For years, he has had Anfield in the foreground, but spotted the Bernabeu in the distance.

The Galactico full-back may be a contradiction in terms, but if there was one, it was Roberto Carlos. Alexander-Arnold, another attacking defender, may be his spiritual successor. For Liverpool, there will be the dual sense that they have a worthy replacement, in Conor Bradley, who is perhaps too good to remain an understudy for much longer, and that no one can replicate Alexander-Arnold’s contribution. He could pass it like Kevin De Bruyne, cross it like David Beckham but not, his critics sniped, defend it like Kyle Walker.

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At 19, Alexander-Arnold played a key role in one of Liverpool’s greatest nights but he would achieve much more (Getty Images)

But a century of goal involvements in a Liverpool shirt was remarkable; it was more than Fernando Torres, among others. Real may imagine Kylian Mbappe or Vinicius Junior racing on to Alexander-Arnold’s deliveries from deep. Superstars of his generation might form part of his rationale for going: he was the youngest of Klopp’s great team and is now leaving a champion side but a club whose two finest players are in their thirties.

Contrary to some of the more vitriolic, sillier suggestions on social media, there is nothing traitorous or disloyal about it. It is a career choice, perhaps pitting an understandable interest in experiencing a different environment and league with the question if any trophy means more when secured with his hometown club. This season ought to be a reminder that Real Madrid are not actually a guarantee of glory. Liverpool’s season has been better; more even-tempered, too. Nevertheless, Alexander-Arnold was, at 23, the youngest player to start three Champions League finals, but has not even featured in a quarter-final since then. Meanwhile, Real retain an unrivalled pulling power.

For Liverpool, the apocalyptic scenario of losing three outstanding players for nothing has been averted, yet there should still be questions about how it came to this. .New sporting director Richard Hughes got in touch with the right-back's representatives even before taking charge and eventually submitted an offer that would have made him one of the best-paid players in his position in the world, but the context may have changed in the power vacuum before his appointment.

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Alexander-Arnold appears set to join Real Madrid, the side he lost two Champions League finals against (Getty Images)

Rewind to 2023 and Alexander-Arnold had an excitement at getting the vice-captaincy. It showed Klopp had a long-term plan. In the end, the smooth succession came in the dugout, with Arne Slot taking over from Klopp. Much as Alexander-Arnold enjoyed working with Slot, the man to eventually inherit Virgil van Dijk’s armband will not be his current deputy.

Yet something changed in a year. For a club who otherwise plan the future well, Liverpool were negligent in 2023-24, allowing the three contracts enter the last year during a transitional time at Anfield. Van Dijk and Mohamed Salah were always different cases, their ages a reason to wait to see if they declined, their preference to stay at Anfield giving the club an advantage in negotiations.

Meanwhile, Alexander-Arnold’s friendship with Jude Bellingham is often cited as a factor as his future seemed ever likelier to lie in Spain. It is notable, though, that Real often capitalise in such situations. They do not pay for defenders when they can sign David Alaba and Antonio Rudiger on free transfers, albeit with sizeable salaries.

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(Getty Images)

Real’s superiority complex might have been apparent in their midwinter attempt to sign Alexander-Arnold, as though they could get him when it suited them. Liverpool rejected it out of hand. It was not a bargaining ploy, even if it may work out in the right-back’s favour. A free transfer could be more lucrative for him than a £20m transfer.

But Real did need him in January. They have lacked a specialist right-back for much of this season, with Dani Carvajal injured, with Lucas Vazquez and Fede Valverde played out of position. Next year, they will have two of the finest in the world, with the six-time Champions League winner fit again. It prompts the question of where they fit in: with Carvajal at centre-back? Alexander-Arnold in midfield? One on the bench?

At Liverpool, meanwhile, there is no need to trawl back to 2019 for memories of his commitment. Last week, he was jigging in joy on the Anfield pitch with his fellow full-back and friend Andy Robertson after the title-winning victory over Tottenham, a great partnership twinned again. A week earlier, there was the arrowed finish at Leicester to take Liverpool to the brink of the title, the shirtless celebration in front of the travelling fans. It was his first left-footed goal for Liverpool, something that was lacking on his CV.

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Alexander-Arnold gave the Liverpool fans one last memorable moment with his winner at Leicester (Getty Images)

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Alexander-Arnold and Robertson take in Liverpool’s celebrations after winning a second Premier League title in five years (Getty Images)

Not much else is; not at club level, anyway. Alexander-Arnold has won the lot at Liverpool; a second Premier League clearly meant a lot as the first came in empty stadia. He has ticked another off the bucket list. What next? For many of a Liverpool player of a previous generation, the answer would be to win it again, and again. Not all, though: a wanderlust took Kevin Keegan, Ian Rush and Graeme Souness abroad when at their peak. None won the European Cup again, though Keegan was named European Footballer of the Year at Hamburg and Souness excelled for Sampdoria

The more recent comparisons are Steve McManaman and Michael Owen, both lured to Real. McManaman became a double Champions League winner at the Bernabeu. Like Rush, Owen retreated to England after a year. Unlike Rush, there was no easy return to Anfield. Perhaps Alexander-Arnold has selected McManaman as his role model, when he could have gone for Gerrard or Carragher. If and when it is confirmed, his Real deal will represent football’s least surprising summer transfer. Perhaps Alexander-Arnold could not lose, whichever option he picked. He leaves a Liverpool great but one who concluded his ambitions extended beyond Anfield.