Trent Alexander-Arnold leaving Liverpool during the January transfer window is the only way the Reds will receive a fee should their vice-captain not sign a contract extension
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Trent Alexander-Arnold holding a football while playing for Liverpool
Trent Alexander-Arnold has previously spoken about wanting to see out this season at Liverpool
(Image: 2024 Liverpool FC)
Real Madrid are reportedly ready to scrap any attempts to sign Trent Alexander-Arnold during the upcoming transfer window. The Liverpool vice-captain has been the subject of significant interest from the Spanish club ahead of his contract with the Reds expiring at the end of this season.
From the start of next month, Alexander-Arnold can negotiate pre-contract agreements with teams outside the Premier League unless he agrees to stay at Anfield beyond this summer before then. Madrid have suffered several serious injuries this season, most notably to their starting right-back, Dani Carvajal.
The injury to Carvajal has only heightened interest in signing Alexander-Arnold as a replacement sooner rather than later. But now The Telegraph reports that the Spanish giants are willing to wait until the end of this season when the England international is due to become a free agent.
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That is how they signed Kylian Mbappe from Paris Saint-Germain last summer, while in recent years, Antonio Rudiger and David Alaba, who arrived from Chelsea and Bayern Munich, respectively, also came to the club on free transfers. Should they be able to sign the England international, a Bosman transfer is reportedly their preference.
Such a deal would be preferable as it avoids paying the transfer fee it would take for Liverpool to sell their vice-captain midway through a season in which they are currently top of the Champions League and Premier League tables. The expected difficulty of executing such a move in a month with an assumedly unwilling negotiator suggests Madrid's position on a January transfer is potentially at least partly forced upon them.
That is all without considering the player's preference. During an interview with Sky Sports in September, Alexander-Arnold acknowledged: "I want to be a Liverpool player this season [as a minimum]".