It’s safe to say that Liverpool fans will have very little care for the ongoing Club World Cup in the United States of America. In fact, not many football fans in general have tuned in for proceedings just yet.
Chelsea’s opening game with LAFC was played in front of a minuscule crowd considering how big the stadium actually was.
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Despite that, there are some talking points on the pitch, none more so than Trent Alexander-Arnold.
Real Madrid got their campaign underway against Saudi side Al Hilal on Wednesday and could only manage a 1-1 draw. Perhaps the gap to Saudi’s top sides isn’t as big as we may think.
It doesn’t feel like long ago now that Alexander-Arnold announced to the fanbase that he’d be leaving his boyhood club behind in favour of the Spanish capital, Madrid.
After he let it be know that he’d be departing; the right-back was understandably greeted with a chorus of boos. For one of the club’s most infamous academy graduates, this was surprising.
Yet, once all was said and done, the right-back didn’t actually end up leaving on a free transfer.
Before the aforementioned Club World Cup got underway, there was a frenzy in the transfer market as a plethora of teams tried to get early deals over the line.
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At Chelsea, it was striker Liam Delap arriving while Manchester City confirmed the additions of Tijjani Reijnders, Rayan Ait-Nouri and Rayan Cherki. Not bad at all.
As far as Madrid were concerned, they ended up parting ways with around £8m in order to bring Alexander-Arnold to the club in time for the beginning of this summer’s tournament in the USA.
Alexander-Arnold-Madrid
Well, after his debut on Wednesday evening, Florentino Perez and Co may well be wishing he hadn’t officially signed yet.
This clearly wasn’t Madrid at full strength but it was a horrible afternoon for the Merseyside defender.
He was slapped with a 5/10 match rating from one Real-based outlet, who noted the full-back had ‘some problems’ in the first half and was rather ‘discreet’ throughout.
Another Spanish publication, Football Espana, weren’t too kind either, also giving Trent a rating of 5/10. They were also damning of his abilities, writing that it was an ‘underwhelming’ debut where he was ‘not at his best defensively’. Now, isn’t that a surprise?
Closer to home, 90min gave the new signing a 4/10 rating, making note of how he ‘sometimes forgot’ his marking duties.
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How Trent compares to Huijsen on debut
Also making his debut for Madrid in the game with Al Hilal was Dean Huijsen.
The Spaniard was the subject of interest from a plethora of Premier League clubs before the window got underway with the likes of Arsenal and Liverpool in particular chasing their signature.
The Reds were reportedly one of the favourites to prise him away from Bournemouth but like Alexander-Arnold, Madrid was an offer he could not refuse.
Huijsen-Real-Madrid
As it happens, the centre-back enjoyed a far better maiden game in Real colours, handed a 7/10 rating by Football Espana.
They wrote that, ‘in contrast to Alexander-Arnold, Huijsen looked assured in his debut. He helped a lot in build-up, which would have pleased Alonso.’
Trent vs Huijsen - Real Madrid debuts
Trent
65
2
1
0
57
89%
1
1/4
0/1
Stats via Sofascore.
Despite the setbacks of not signing Huijsen and losing Trent, Liverpool appear to be in a good place, having confirmed the arrival of Jeremie Frimpong and reportedly on the verge of signing Florian Wirtz in a British record deal and Milos Kerkez.
Therefore, it’s unlikely they’ll be losing too much sleep over the Alexander-Arnold situation now.
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