Trent Alexander-Arnold’s move to Real Madrid was one of the worst-kept secrets in football.
The former Liverpool defender allowed his contract at Anfield to run out to allow him to make the switch to Madrid ahead of the 2025-26 campaign.
Indeed, Liverpool did end up earning around £10million to allow Alexander-Arnold to leave early so that he could play in the Club World Cup over the summer, but that doesn’t excuse the fact that he let his contract expire.
Trent Alexander-Arnold pictured at the England camp ahead of their international fixtures.
Photo by Eddie Keogh – The FA/The FA via Getty Images
Now that his move has been confirmed as he’s officially been unveiled, fans have shared their thoughts on the defender via social media, with most feeling rather hurt by his exit, especially since he spoke in fluent Spanish when addressing the media.
Gabby Agbonlahor slams Liverpool fans for attacking Trent Alexander-Arnold for speaking Spanish
If it wasn’t already clear, Alexander-Arnold’s move to Los Blancos has been in the works for the past couple of seasons.
There were always rumours about whether he’d actually leave his boyhood club for nothing, with most thinking he’d have enough loyalty to at least agree to a small release clause so that the Reds got something for him.
Instead, he betrayed his team, and the fact that he can speak fluent Spanish means that he’s known about this move for some time; despite this, Gabby Agbonlahor has slammed the reaction from Liverpool fans and shared that he believes the defender may have known Spanish all his life.
“When I saw it [Alexander-Arnold speaking fluent Spanish], I had to look twice and think, is this real, [it’s] unbelievable,” Agbonlahor said while live on talkSPORT.
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“There was a meltdown on social media from Liverpool fans, I can’t say what they were calling him, but they were like ‘yeah, that makes sense, he’s been planning this move for two or three years.’
“How do you know he doesn’t already know Spanish, how does anyone know that he’s been learning Spanish for this move?
“We don’t know, do we, he might have done Spanish at school, he might have been fluent in it anyway.”
Jeremie Frimpong could end up being better than Trent Alexander-Arnold at Liverpool
Although Alexander-Arnold’s move to Real Madrid was only confirmed in May, Slot has already sourced a replacement in Jeremie Frimpong.
The defender has made the move from Bayer Leverkusen after contributing to 17 goals across all competitions for the Bundesliga outfit.
Player Games Goals Assists
Jeremie Frimpong 48 5 12
Trent Alexander-Arnold 44 4 8
The 2024-25 seasons of Jeremie Frimpong and Trent Alexander-Arnold in numbers.
Indeed, Frimpong played a more advanced role for Xabi Alonso’s men compared to what he’s likely to play for Liverpool, but his attacking prowess will still remain.
In addition to being more productive, Frimpong is also less injury-prone than Alexander-Arnold and is much faster.
Granted, his defensive ability could do with some work, but due to his pace, he will be able to track back much better than Alexander-Arnold was able to.
At the end of the day, what’s done is done, and nothing can be changed, but with the amount of changes Slot seems to be making to his team, it feels like Liverpool could be better off next season than they were throughout the 2024-25 campaign.