Allowing a Real Madrid move without really putting up a fight underappreciates this unique figure
For Liverpool, Carabao Cup victory would bring much-needed catharsis to a season built on constant control and consistency and buttoned-upness, on basically always winning 2-0 away to mid-table opposition, on the merits of keeping their heads while all around them are losing theirs.
But in news they might have to get used to, Trent Alexander-Arnold won’t be on the pitch at Wembley on Sunday.
Concerns an ankle injury sustained against Paris Saint-Germain will end his season are unfounded, but there increasingly appears little doubt we are witnessing the dwindling twilight of his Liverpool career.
With Conor Bradley and Joe Gomez also out, Jarell Quansah is the most likely replacement against Newcastle. Jurgen Klopp played Curtis Jones there a few times in 2023-24 and Wataru Endo could in theory, but really Quansah is the only likely solution.
It’s perhaps only in this moment everyone associated with the club will realise what they are set to lose in Alexander-Arnold, the insanity and irresponsibility of sanctioning his departure. Of course you can’t force him to stay, but his demands – a long-term contract alongside the club’s top earners and a commitment to become captain sooner rather than later – are not unreasonable.
In the great contract discourse wars, compared to Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk there’s a lot of talk that losing Alexander-Arnold doesn’t really matter, largely because of Bradley. He tackled Mbappe! He scored against Chelsea! Maybe, you hear them say, he might be even better than Trent, because he can defend!
But there has never been a Trent Alexander-Arnold before, so the chances of a second coming at the same club at the same time feels about as likely as the actual Second Coming. This is no slight on Bradley – although his injury record is already concerning – it just exposes how underappreciated Alexander-Arnold somehow remains. He operates on a wavelength we struggle to understand, so for many the natural reaction is to destroy him.
Here’s a local lad and global superstar at one of the world’s most aggressively globalised sporting entities which still presents itself as a hyperlocal entity. A right-back and anything but a right-back, someone who either redefines his position or defies position altogether.
The best English passer of a generation who has completed 73.9 per cent of his Premier League passes this season. A man whose sole focus and purpose is making things happen often derided for his occasional (and wildly overblown) weaknesses stopping things happening. One of one.
A world is coming for Liverpool without Alexander-Arnold, and potentially without Salah, Van Dijk and Andy Robertson. Saudi billions will tempt Alisson again. The illusion of perfection, of a club which has solved succession planning, is the result of a heady mix of well-taken opportunities.
According to Physioroom, Liverpool’s 14 injuries are nearly half title rivals Arsenal (27), as ever a mixture of better care and fortune. Manchester City’s collapse further diluted the competition.
The 82 points which earned Klopp third last season will almost certainly win this one for Slot, and by a distance. Of their Carabao Cup opponents so far, Brighton are highest in the Premier League (seventh). The shot has to be there for you to take it.
This is not to undermine the deft skill of Slot’s tweaks, but real change is inevitable and necessary. And replacing Alexander-Arnold with Bradley – or any other right-back in the world – will mean Liverpool are weakened in the long term, both creatively and as a wider team unit.
His impact on Salah’s record-breaking season also should not be understated. Alexander-Arnold is the only defender in the top 45 Premier League players for shot-creating actions per 90 minutes this season (3.86), and his seven assists in all competitions is joint-second across the Liverpool squad.
The space he creates for Salah, both through his passing range and just by occupying the same areas, distracting attention and opponents, is vital. Securing a new contract for one without the other will dilute the impact of whichever stays while inevitably bolstering a rival. In the longer term, Alexander-Arnold could feasibly play another decade at the elite level, a player an entire new generation can be built around in a way Salah or Van Dijk simply cannot.
If Liverpool’s season is going to peak, that peak will come on Sunday. Winning the Premier League will be wonderful – the big 20 and all that – but the lingering inevitability makes it feel slightly like finding out what you’re getting for Christmas in October. However snazzy the bike is, you’ve lost the element of surprise.
And without Alexander-Arnold, it’s a taste of a future sans the world’s best full-back, a future Liverpool must know will always be just that little bit worse. To suggest he is replaceable now, next season or beyond is to fundamentally misunderstand who and what he is.