Trent Alexander-Arnold appears to have sealed his fate and is now all set to leave Liverpool when his contract expires this summer before joining Real Madrid on a free transfer.
Of their three players with expiring contracts, Alexander-Arnold is the player Liverpool have been most concerned about in terms of whether he wants to stay. Real Madrid have been trying to tempt the Reds academy graduate to Spain for a number of months and it now looks like they’ll be getting their way in the summer.
Sources have revealed that Alexander-Arnold has verbally agreed to join Real Madrid at the end of his Liverpool contract, which will mean he’ll be leaving his boyhood club for free.
It’s a decision that will divide opinion on Merseyside, but soon Alexander-Arnold will be looking ahead to his new challenge in LaLiga. But will it be a success?
Some pundits have been warning Alexander-Arnold that the grass isn’t always greener on the other side and that few players have bettered themselves away from Anfield. He will be hoping to prove his doubters wrong by shining at the Bernabeu.
But how has a move to Spain gone for other players who have left Liverpool? Here, TEAMtalk takes a look at the past 10 players to leave Liverpool for a LaLiga club, excluding loan moves but including permanent sales or free transfers.
Adrian (Real Betis, 2024)
Last summer, Adrian brought an end to his five-year stay at Liverpool when the club released their third-choice goalkeeper at the end of his contract.
The Seville-born shot-stopper returned to his local club Real Betis, where he played previously until moving to the Premier League with West Ham in 2013.
Aged 37 at the time of his Liverpool exit, Adrian was originally planned to be Betis’ backup keeper for La Liga games and starter in the Conference League.
But in 2025, the hierarchy has changed. Following the departure of Rui Silva on loan to Sporting CP, Adrian has effectively won the battle to become no.1.
Adrian has started Betis’ past nine La Liga games in a row at the time of writing, with Fran Vieites assuming European responsibilities in the knockout stage so far.
Adrian, whose contract with Betis has another season on it after this one, has kept five clean sheets from his first 15 appearances back at Betis, conceding only 17 goals in the process.
Verdict: HIT
Alberto Moreno (Villarreal, 2019)
Adrian’s fellow Seville native, Alberto Moreno, ended his half-decade stay with Liverpool in 2019, when his contract expired.
Moreno made just five appearances in his final season at Liverpool after Andy Robertson definitively overtook him in the pecking order.
The next step for the left-back was a return to Spain with Villarreal, where he played 19 times in his debut season.
His second season with the Yellow Submarines was interrupted by an ACL injury, but after recovering, he went on to surpass 100 appearances for the club.
Moreno won the Europa League with them in 2021, scoring a penalty in the shootout that decided the final.
In 2024, his service to Villarreal ended and he moved to wealthy Serie A newcomers Como on another free transfer. In his exit statement, Villarreal described him as ‘an important player’ who had a ‘brilliant spell’ in their famous colours.
Verdict: HIT
Philippe Coutinho (Barcelona, 2018)
Philippe Coutinho’s move to Barcelona was one of the most expensive in the history of football – and because of that, it has also gone down as one of the biggest failures.
£105m was the initial fee Liverpool were due to receive for their gifted playmaker, with the price potentially rising to £142m. He had scored 38 goals over his last two-and-a-half years at Liverpool, with a penchant for long-range spectaculars.
📅 On this day 5 years ago, Barcelona signed Philippe Coutinho for €145M 💴
Is he the biggest big-money flop ever? pic.twitter.com/BO8uoTrK1M
— TEAMtalk (@TEAMtalk) January 6, 2023
But after finding his spark under Jurgen Klopp, Coutinho was never really able to recreate the magic in La Liga – despite previously having a brief spell in Spain’s top-flight with Espanyol earlier in his career.
His beginnings in a Barcelona shirt were promising enough, with 10 goals from 22 games in the second half of the 2017-18 season after his January move. But in his first full season at Barcelona, he only got five goals in La Liga.
He was then sent on loan to Bayern Munich and featured sparingly in the 18 months after his return until former Liverpool teammate Steven Gerrard persuaded him to join Aston Villa in January 2022.
Coutinho left Barcelona with 26 goals from 106 games and for much of his time there he was viewed as a burden, especially because of the club’s financial struggles and how much they had invested in him.
Verdict: MISS
Iago Aspas (Celta Vigo via Sevilla, 2015)
The version of Iago Aspas that Liverpool fans got a glimpse of was a far cry from the player he has been in Spain.
Aspas was 25 when he joined Liverpool from Celta Vigo, but he never scored from 14 Premier League appearances. After one season, he was sent on loan to Sevilla, where he scored 10 goals.
Sevilla had an obligation to buy Aspas at the end of his loan spell, but as soon as they activated it, they sold him themselves straight away back to Celta.
Since then, Liverpool fans probably wouldn’t believe just how good he’s been. Aspas has scored more than 160 goals in his second spell with Celta, breaking the 20-goal barrier in three separate seasons.
He earned his senior international debut for Spain in 2016, going on to make their World Cup squad for 2018, and has established himself as one of the most consistent goal-getters outside of La Liga’s traditional powerhouses, only being able to partake in one Europa League campaign over the past 10 years.
Aspas – who said in May 2015 while still at Sevilla that he could have contributed more for Liverpool in his second season that never happened – has served as Celta’s captain since 2020 and stands strong as their all-time leading goalscorer.
Verdict: HIT
Luis Suarez (Barcelona, 2014)
You’d be hard-pressed to find a bigger success story for an ex-Liverpool player after moving on in recent years than Luis Suarez.
After a devastating 82 goals in 133 games for Liverpool, Suarez set sail for Barcelona in the summer of 2014 on the back of winning the Premier League golden boot.
For the next three years, Suarez would be the centre-forward in Barcelona’s fabled MSN attack, linking up with Lionel Messi and Neymar.
In the 2015-16 season, he scored a whopping 59 goals from 53 games, winning the European Golden Shoe just like he had in his last season as a Liverpool player.
Neymar’s unprecedented move to Paris Saint-Germain in 2017 broke the MSN dynasty, but Suarez gave Barcelona three more years of service, adding another 77 goals for good measure along the way.
Having won La Liga in 2014-15, 2015-16, 2017-18 and 2018-19, as well as the Champions League in his debut season, Suarez left Barcelona with a glittering collection of medals.
He then had the last laugh by firing Atletico Madrid to the title in his first season after being pushed out, reinforcing his reputation as a generational goalscorer.
Liverpool have had some fantastic goalscorers in the years since Suarez left, but none quite like him as an out-and-out centre-forward.
Verdict: HIT
Nabil El Zhar (Levante, 2011)
Arriving at Liverpool in the autumn of 2006 as a 20-year-old, Nabil El Zhar made 32 appearances for the Reds before being released from his contract a year early in 2011.
That came after a loan spell in Greece with PAOK, but his next step took him to Spain when Levante gave him contract.
Levante had finished two points above relegation in the 2010-11 season, but by the end of El Zhar’s debut season, they had qualified for the Europa League.
That was without El Zhar scoring from 22 La Liga appearances, though. In fact, across four campaigns with Levante, his best seasonal goal tally was five.
His time there was respectable, but Levante let him leave for free in 2015 for newly promoted Las Palmas.
Now retired, El Zhar played for Levante more times than any of his other clubs, but only scored 10 goals from his 114 games for them.
Verdict: MISS
Javier Mascherano (Barcelona, 2010)
After a messy end to his brief spell playing for West Ham, Liverpool were cleared to sign Javier Mascherano in February 2007. The 22-year-old would take the move in his stride, later becoming a key player from his first full season at the club.
Things came to an end for Mascherano in the Premier League in August 2010, when he completed what he described as a ‘dream’ move to Barcelona for £17.25m.
While Mascherano’s individual form was mixed in his debut season, he ended it as a La Liga and Champions League winner.
The South American later reinvented himself as a centre-back for Pep Guardiola’s side and became a reliable servant, whether in that role or his natural one as a defensive midfielder.
In the later years of his Barcelona career, Mascherano became a member of Barcelona’s leadership group. Ultimately, he made 334 appearances for the club before moving to the Chinese Super League in January 2018.
After the double in his debut season, Mascherano tasted success in La Liga a further three times, while he added four Copa del Rey medals to his collection and won the Champions League again under Luis Enrique in 2014-15.
Verdict: HIT
Jermaine Pennant (Real Zaragoza, 2009)
The third year of Jermaine Pennant’s Liverpool career was largely spent on loan at Portsmouth – and there would be no Anfield return after for the winger.
The Portsmouth loan took Pennant up to the end of his contract with Liverpool, who didn’t offer him a new deal and let him go for free.
Pennant headed abroad, signing a three-year deal with Real Zaragoza. However, by the February of his debut season, Zaragoza’s coach disciplined Pennant for a third offence of turning up late for training.
So serious was his punishment that there would be no more appearances at all for Pennant at Zaragoza, for whom he never scored. He later returned to English football with Stoke City.
Verdict: MISS
Xabi Alonso (Real Madrid, 2009)
A member of Liverpool’s Champions League winning squad from 2005, Xabi Alonso left a major void when leaving for Real Madrid in 2009 in a £30m deal.
It was a club-record sale for Liverpool at the time and Real Madrid made the most of their investment, with head coach Manuel Pellegrini starting Alonso at every available opportunity.
At the first time of asking, Alonso was voted into Marca‘s La Liga team of the season. In his third campaign at Real Madrid, now at Jose Mourinho’s disposal, Alonso finally won the first league title of his career.
Ultimately, Real Madrid kept hold of Alonso until August 2014, when he moved to Bayern Munich. He had gone out on a high note, winning the Champions League for a second time in his career.
After 236 appearances, Real Madrid overtook Liverpool as the club Alonso played the most for in his career.
He has since cut his teeth as a promising manager in Germany with Bayer Leverkusen, whom he led to a first-ever Bundesliga title last season.
Verdict: HIT
Alvaro Arbeloa (Real Madrid, 2009)
Alvaro Arbeloa had previously developed at Real Madrid until 2006, but it was from Deportivo La Coruna that Liverpool bought him six months after his departure from the Spanish capital.
The versatile full-back spent two-and-a-half years with Rafael Benitez’s Liverpool, falling two shy of a century of appearances.
In the summer of 2009, Real Madrid bought him back for a fee of £5m. While his first spell with the club had included just four senior appearances, his second would contain 233.
Arbeloa was 26 when he returned to Real Madrid, so he spent his prime years there. Along the way, he won La Liga once and the Champions League twice – as well as the 2010 World Cup and Euro 2012 with Spain.
His career ended with a short spell back in English football with West Ham, but he now manages Real Madrid’s under-19s.
Verdict: HIT
READ NEXT : Nine Liverpool replacement options for Alexander-Arnold as fears grow Real Madrid move is on