Trent Alexander-Arnold of Liverpool waves to the crowd during the Premier League match between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest at Anfield in Liverpool, England, on September 14, 2024. (Photo by Steven Halliwell | MI News/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Trent Alexander-Arnold could wave goodbye to Liverpool at the end of the season
It wasn't supposed to end like this, if indeed, it does end like this. But Trent Alexander-Arnold, the lifelong Liverpool supporter who joined the club as a six-year-old, seems set to join Real Madrid on a free transfer.
It's safe to say that will leave a bitter taste in the mouths of the supporters who have delighted in seeing one of their own rise through the ranks and win every major honour there is to win at club level.
That much is clear given the reaction to yesterday's news that Madrid are working to finalise a pre-contract agreement with Alexander-Arnold, whose current deal at Liverpool runs out at the end of the season.
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It's just not just on social media. Speak to reasonable Reds fans in person and many say the same thing - they feel let down by the Academy graduate.
There is a recognition of what Alexander-Arnold has achieved at Anfield - six significant trophies, 349 appearances, 22 goals and an incredible 86 assists . But perhaps the 26-year-old doesn't feel recognised enough?
He made it clear there was more he wanted in an interview in October. "I believe I can win the Ballon d'Or," he said. "I want to be the first full-back to ever do it. It's only the morning after you retire that you're able to look at yourself in the mirror and say you've given it everything you have got.
“It doesn't matter how many trophies you win or medals you have got, it matters about what you have given to the game and if you reach your full potential. I've heard potential being thrown around with my name since the age of six.
“If you reach that potential and you know you have and you've given everything to maximise that potential and be the player you believe you can be, which is one of the best ever, then you'll be happy. It doesn't matter how many trophies you win, I guess.
"Do I have the potential to be that? For sure. I believe it. Some people may call me deluded but I believe I can.
"(I want to be) a legend of football, someone who changed the game. A saying I have is 'don't play the game, change the game'. I want that legacy of being probably the greatest right-back ever to play football, to be honest.
"I know there have been many out there but I have got to reach for the stars. That's where I believe my ceiling can go."
The mood music appears to suggest that it is Real Madrid, the 15-time European champions, where Alexander-Arnold believes he can take the next step.
And perhaps the England international feels he need to leave the Premier League behind to hit the 'ceiling' he talked about?
While adored by Liverpool supporters, perhaps he is sick of being singled out by the television pundits for his supposed deficiencies at both club and international level?
Yes, it comes with the territory and there have been times when the criticism has been justified, such as his ineffectual display against Manchester United at Anfield in January just days after it emerged that Madrid had made an enquiry over signing signing him in that month's transfer window.
And, yes, there is the irony of moving to the Spanish capital, where the glare is the most intense, but too often the condemnation in this country has felt over the top for a footballer who has helped redefine what it is to be a full-back.
While there are certainly better defensive full-backs out there, there are few if any who can replicate what Alexander-Arnold does going forward as the Reds' recruitment will no doubt already be aware.
And there's the rub. What will really sting is that his departure will earn his club absolutely nothing at all. Given he still has his best years ahead of him, and given he is valued at £75m (per transfermarkt), that is a travesty, and that is the reason why the criticism he is currently receiving and will receive from his fellow fans will be the most stinging and could hurt the most.
At some point in the near future Alexander-Arnold will have to address that and address why, at the very least, he has come this close to leaving. The only time he touched on his future was in September when he said: "I want to be a Liverpool player this season (as a minimum) is what I will say. I have been at the club (for) 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."
That was reasonable enough and if Alexander-Arnold's decision to remain silent was to keep the focus on Liverpool's challenge for honours - while their cup hopes are now over, they stand on the brink of winning a record-equalling 20th top-flight English title - then that was understandable.
But it feels like it may gone past that point now. And that's a shame.