Trent Alexander-Arnold of Liverpool looks on during the UEFA Champions League 2024/25 League Phase MD6 match between Girona FC and Liverpool FC at Montilivi Stadium on December 10, 2024 in Girona, Spain
The statement from Trent Alexander-Arnold this week that he is now playing to furnish his legacy at the age of 26 raises questions regarding his long-term Liverpool future. The Reds vice-captain, who is of course out of contract at the end of the season, has tried his best to maintain what he sees as a dignified silence regarding his next major decision at Anfield.
The ECHO was informed over the summer of how Alexander-Arnold was desperate to keep ongoing talks between his camp and boyhood club respectful, which was something the England international himself reiterated when speaking after the 3-0 win over Bournemouth in September.
To his credit, the claim made earlier that week in Milan that he would stop to chat to the reporters who regularly ask for a minute or two of his time after games was followed up on, even if he will have been anticipating a grilling over his contract impasse, therefore giving himself a few days to prepare for that inevitable deluge of questions.
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"I want to be a Liverpool player this season (as a minimum) is what I will say," Alexander-Arnold said back on September 22, before adding: "I have been at the club 20 years now, I have signed four or five contract extensions and none of those have been played out in public and this one won’t be either."
The topic of Alexander-Arnold's future, amid intense and now almost daily speculation linking him with Real Madrid, has always been carefully manicured by his camp. Requests have been quietly made not to broach the subject whenever the Reds star has made public appearances and media dealings that haven't been mandatory.
It's all been part of the stance of not making the issue one that is intensely front and centre as Mohamed Salah's, for example, which is a situation that has garnered ample coverage in recent months, particularly since the Egyptian's statement made after the win at Southampton last month.
But try as Alexander-Arnold might, at some stage, the story must reach its conclusion. Which is why there was plenty of ambiguity in his comments made to American podcast Men in Blazers earlier this week.
"Of course winning more trophies [in the future] but I think on a personal level there's a legacy, building a legacy," Alexander-Arnold explained. "That is something that is important. Just being spoken about in the highest regard, especially after you have finished. So I think in 10 or 15 years, if I am spoken about as one of the best right-backs or the best right-back then that is what I am playing for now, I think. And using it as motivation."
The aforementioned questions are two-fold: Is Alexander-Arnold talking specifically about his Liverpool legacy? Or is he referring simply to how his own standing in the game will be viewed when he finally hangs up his boots?
For Arne Slot, Alexander-Arnold's ambitious desires are a good thing, with the Reds boss indicating on Friday that an elite player does not reach those heights without such a mentality and dedication to improve.
"I definitely like this in a player," Slot said. "I think this is something every player must have if you play at this level. If you don't have this, you probably don't play at this level. As long as they understand they need the team to be special as an individual, as long as they put the team first and as a result of that be special themselves. That is what they all do, including Trent. All the top players have this, they want to be special, they want to be the best."
But if Alexander-Arnold is talking about furthering his reputation with the Reds, having already won every top-level trophy in the game, then his peak years lie in wait for him to add to what is already a career that is the envy of many. He will then neatly position himself to only rise higher in the rankings of the great and the good at Anfield, with the career-long dream of one day being club captain almost a formality once Virgil van Dijk steps down.
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It's quite the incentive for any boyhood supporter. Lifelong adulation from a supporter-base as sprawling and passionate as Liverpool's must be an enticing proposition.
However, if the 26-year-old is thinking singularly with his aims of "building a legacy" within the wider football community, then you'd be hard pushed to have a firmer platform than Real Madrid to achieve such a lofty aim.
So, which is it? We're about to find out. But of those two questions, perhaps there is one more poser that is most pertinent. Will leaving Liverpool on a free transfer to Real Madrid at the end of this season - a move which would set a torch to the bridges built over the last eight years - will it all really be worth it?
"That is the biggest issue for Trent – the free transfer. As with Macca (Steve McManaman), the supporters will feel that the club are losing an £80 million player for nothing, and they will not like it," Jamie Carragher said this week. "My advice to Trent would be to sign a new deal, with a reasonable buyout clause, that will give the club some value if Real or anyone else decide to meet it."
There is plenty of thinking for Alexander-Arnold to do as January 1 - and that phone call from Real Madrid - approaches. Crunch time is now here for the Liverpool man and it's a decision that will shape that legacy he is so keen to cultivate.