When Liverpool ruthlessly dispatched Manchester United on their very own turf earlier within the season, one of many enduring photographs of the afternoon was of Trent Alexander-Arnold on the full-time whistle, holding aloft three fingers — one for every of the targets his staff had scored — to a jubilant away finish at Old Trafford.
On Sunday, nonetheless, Liverpool’s struggles towards United in a breathless 2-2 draw at Anfield have been maybe finest typified by the sight of the right-back trudging towards the dugout to get replaced by Conor Bradley, because the hosts desperately sought a late winner.
While Alexander-Arnold was removed from the one participant in a crimson shirt who did not hit the heights, the postmatch evaluation noticed him bear the brunt of the criticism from followers and pundits alike. He misplaced the ball 25 occasions towards United, gained none of his 5 duels and recorded a passing accuracy of simply 74.6% — barely beneath his season common of 76.5%. It was a day to neglect for the England worldwide on the finish of every week that may reside lengthy within the reminiscence of many Liverpool supporters, for all of the flawed causes.
If Alexander-Arnold — who’s out of contract on the finish of the season — had been hoping to silence the noise surrounding his Anfield future along with his purpose celebration towards West Ham United final week, it’s truthful to say that his actions didn’t have the specified impact. With studies from Spain that the 26-year-old had already dedicated to becoming a member of Real Madrid as a free agent in the summertime rising within the buildup to Dec. 29’s 5-0 win on the London Stadium, Alexander-Arnold marked his first Premier League purpose of the season towards Julen Lopetegui’s facet by raising his hand to his ear and making a “talking” gesture. The celebration turned the topic of intense scrutiny, with some taking it as an indication that chat of Alexander-Arnold’s impending exit was untimely.
Less than 48 hours later, although, the Madrid hierarchy appeared to counsel in any other case after they approached Liverpool about signing their vice-captain within the January switch window. A source told ESPN those advances were quickly rejected and no official bid was tabled. But whereas Liverpool’s swift rebuttal seemingly put paid to the thought of Alexander-Arnold leaving his boyhood membership this month, Madrid’s overt curiosity has set the stage for what might now change into a poisonous and protracted switch saga.
It should be famous that the accountability for this turmoil, in what has in any other case been a serene debut season for Liverpool head coach Arne Slot, doesn’t lie solely with Alexander-Arnold. Before kick-off at Anfield on Sunday, a banner was unfurled on the Kop depicting the right-back, alongside teammates Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk, with the caption: “FSG give Mo & Co their dough.”
That all three gamers will, as issues stand, be capable of depart the membership as free brokers in just a few months represents a obtrusive oversight on the a part of Liverpool’s homeowners, Fenway Sports Group (FSG), and the membership’s footballing hierarchy. That stated, Liverpool’s failings do include a variety of caveats; mainly that the final couple of years have witnessed seismic change on the membership, each within the dugout and behind the scenes.
Typically, a membership of Liverpool’s stature would look to safe a participant to a brand new contract when there may be round two years left on their present deal. However, when Alexander-Arnold, Salah and Van Dijk have been in such a place in the summertime of 2023, sporting director Julian Ward left the membership after only one yr within the position. Former Wolfsburg sporting director Jörg Schmadtke was then drafted in as an interim however the scope for long-term planning was additional scuppered when Jürgen Klopp introduced in January that he can be leaving on the finish of the 2023-24 season.
It is comprehensible, then, that Alexander-Arnold and his teammates would wait to see the membership’s route of journey underneath Klopp’s successor earlier than they made any concrete choices about their future. Alexander-Arnold, specifically, shared a detailed bond with Klopp, who handed him his skilled debut and oversaw his rise to changing into one of many Premier League’s finest-ever right-backs with extra assists than every other defender within the competitors’s historical past.
But, with former AFC Bournemouth technical director Richard Hughes formally assuming the position of sporting director in June, and with Slot making a flying begin to life on Merseyside, there was an expectation that headway can be shortly made in negotiations with Liverpool’s out-of-contract triumvirate. While Salah has usually voiced his frustration over the shortage of progress made — just lately insisting he’s “far away” from agreeing a new deal — Van Dijk and Alexander-Arnold have largely remained tight-lipped on their very own conditions, with the latter having solely publicly addressed his future as soon as, after Liverpool’s 3-0 win over Bournemouth in September.
“I wish to be a Liverpool participant this season [as a minimum] is what I’ll say,” Alexander-Arnold stated. “I’ve been on the membership 20 years now. I’ve signed 4 or 5 contract extensions and none of these have been performed out in public — and this one will not be both.”
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Laurens thinks Trent Alexander-Arnold has agreed to Real Madrid transfer
Julien Laurens and Nedum Onuoha talk about Real Madrid’s curiosity in Liverpool’s Trent Alexander-Arnold.
At the time it was considered as an admirable stance however, as murmurings from Madrid have continued to develop louder, Alexander-Arnold’s silence has change into deafening. Rightly or wrongly, the defender is held to the next commonplace by supporters than Salah or Van Dijk, having been born and raised within the metropolis he now represents on the pitch.
The trade-off for that adulation when issues are going effectively is bigger scrutiny when issues will not be, and that could be a lesson Alexander-Arnold is now studying the arduous method. It is value noting that, for all Madrid’s overtures, conversations over a contract renewal at Liverpool have been happening with Alexander-Arnold’s camp for a number of months, and the membership insist the participant has not but indicated a want to depart.
Even if the defender does resolve to hunt pastures new in the summertime, there may be an argument that he ought to go together with Liverpool’s finest needs, having helped the membership to each the Premier League and Champions League titles and represented the primary staff with nice distinction over the previous eight years. He wouldn’t be the primary participant to be tempted by the brilliant lights of the Bernabéu, the place silverware is nearly assured and there may be the prospect to be catapulted to superstardom. Having given 20 years of service to his boyhood membership, who might deny him the prospect to discover a brand new alternative?
But soccer is a sentimental sport and there’s a significant slice of the Liverpool fanbase who would really feel betrayed ought to their native hero depart at what appears to be like to be the beginning of an thrilling new period underneath Slot, notably to the membership who, since 2018, have defeated them in two Champions League finals.
At a time when revenue and sustainability guidelines (PSR) dictate how freely golf equipment can transfer within the switch market, the prospect of dropping a homegrown asset for nothing would sting and has inevitably led to comparisons being drawn between Alexander-Arnold and Steve McManaman, who left Liverpool to affix Madrid on a free switch in 1999. Madrid’s January strategy additionally has the potential to destabilise Liverpool as they give the impression of being to pursue each Premier League and Champions League glory. Certainly, it will be naïve to imagine that Alexander-Arnold and his camp had no prior information of Madrid’s advances and, for that, the participant deserves some criticism.
Ultimately, although, Liverpool are in a tragic scenario that’s partly of their very own making, whereby a participant who has completed greater than sufficient to be revered as one of many membership’s all-time greats has now change into the simplest goal for supporters’ ire.
Many of the followers who attended the sport towards United may have walked previous a mural erected in Alexander-Arnold’s honour on Sybil Road, only a minute’s stroll away from the stadium. It depicts Alexander-Arnold alongside the phrases: “I’m only a regular lad from Liverpool whose dream has simply come true,” — an emotional comment made after his staff’s triumph within the 2019 Champions League remaining. For the sake of each the defender and for Liverpool, readability over his future should be established sooner slightly than later, or else that dream is susceptible to turning right into a nightmare.
