Arne Slot sends emotional message to Liverpool fans over Trent Alexander-Arnold transfer saga | OneFootball

Arne Slot has urged Liverpool fans to remain supportive of right-back Trent Alexander-Arnold as speculation of a summer transfer to Real Madrid continues to swirl.

Now in the final six months of his contract, Alexander-Arnold has been the subject of a failed approach by Madrid, who are believed to be preparing a second bid for a player who they plan to land on a free transfer in the summer anyway.

Slot has insisted Alexander-Arnold remains fully committed to Liverpool, but the contract dispute has divided opinion among fans on social media. Club hero Jamie Carragher accused the right-back's entourage of encouraging the approach from Madrid and intentionally disrupting preparations for Sunday's huge game against Manchester United.

Keen to keep everybody united, Slot told a press conference: "I don't think I need to tell our fans how to react because they have always been so supportive and have been supporting their team and their players for so, so many years.

"I fully trust them that they will react in the right manner because we've been constantly together in the half-year that I have been here.

"And I think that is something that stands out here that, for so many years, the team and the fans have been together. That has created so many special games and so many special things for this club that they don't need me to tell them how they should react."

Slot is playing it cool / Robbie Jay Barratt - AMA/GettyImages

Alongside Alexander-Arnold, Liverpool are also scrambling to secure the future of centre-back Virgil van Dijk, while Mohamed Salah continued his barrage of public pressure on the club by declaring he was in his "last year" at Liverpool because of the lack of progress in negotiations over an extension.

Despite all the tension, Slot argued the contract drama could actually benefit his side on the pitch.

"Maybe it's even helpful now you ask me," Slot explained. "Because if it is only about how great we are doing then maybe every week I have to have a meeting telling the players it is not perfect yet and we have to do better.

"For me, it doesn't distract at all. I think we get enough credit for the way we play and here in the building, me with the players, we don't talk about these situations.

"It is part of the business we're in. In the month of January, it happens at every club in the world. People talk about: 'Will he come in? Will he go away?' It doesn't distract me at all and I don't think for the players either."