Why ‘Alexander-Arnold 66’ is now ‘Trent 12’ as ex-Liverpool defender explains shirt change | OneFootball

It’s not just the colour and crest on the shirt worn by Trent Alexander-Arnold which’ll look markedly different next season.

The England international was today officially unveiled as a Real Madrid player following his contentious transfer from Liverpool, who banked £10m from allowing him to cancel his contract one month early in order to play for his new side at the Club World Cup.

The manner of his exit from his boyhood team, where he ran down his deal despite pretences over his loyalty to the badge, has left a bitter taste in the mouths for many Reds supporters, but alas he’s now set to begin a new chapter of his career in the Spanish capital.

After years of seeing ‘Alexander-Arnold 66’ on the right flank at Anfield, the shirt he’ll wear at the Bernabeu will bear no resemblance to the one he adorned ever since his senior Liverpool debut in October 2016.

Alexander-Arnold explains why he’ll wear ‘Trent’ on Madrid shirt

The 26-year-old has taken the number 12 at Real Madrid, with LaLiga rules obliging players in clubs’ first-team squads to wear 1-25 (only youth players outside the ‘A’ squad can have 26 or higher). The only other vacant shirt number available to him was 18 (BBC Sport).

(Photo by Angel Martinez/Getty Images)

The right-back will also wear his first name on the back of his jersey for Los Blancos rather than his full surname, saying (via Daily Mail): “Quite an easy explanation. I’ve always found when I travel to Europe, the whole name situation confuses a lot of people, with there being three names double-barreled and Alexander-Arnold.

“People call me Arnold, people call me Alexander, people call me Alex, people call me Trent – there’s a lot that goes on, so I thought ‘let’s make it easy’. Trent on the back, be known as Trent, that’s my name, so that’s what people will call me.”

So much for Alexander-Arnold being a ‘normal lad from Liverpool’…

It’s obviously Alexander-Arnold’s prerogative to choose whatever nomenclature he wants on his shirt (Virgil van Dijk and Darwin Nunez wear their first names on their LFC kit), but his explanation for the name change seems a world removed from the self-styled ‘normal lad from Liverpool‘ after Champions League glory in 2019.

Accusations of him trying to build a ‘brand’ will be further fuelled by his updated Instagram username. What was ‘trentarnold66’ is now just ‘trent’, although his profile picture still shows him playing for the Reds with his full surname visible!

In another action which bends the knee to his new fan base but will raise questions from his former club’s supporters, the England defender introduced himself at Real Madrid in fluent Spanish – either he’s a remarkably quick learner or he’s had the move planned long before he bade farewell at Anfield last month.

The oft-heard chant of “He’s Alexander-Arnold, the Scouser in our team” around Liverpool’s stadium over the past few years could hardly sound any more meaningless now.