Jamie Carragher, along with the whole of the Liverpool fanbase, takes issue with Gary Neville on Stick to Football
Jamie Carragher, along with the whole of the Liverpool fanbase, takes issue with Gary Neville on Stick to Football
Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher did not disappoint. Amid the boredom of the international break, the news that Real Madrid are looking to seal a pre-contract agreement with Liverpool star Trent Alexander-Arnold gave the pundits something to talk about.
And, on the latest episode of Stick to Football, the Sky Sports sparring partners certainly got stuck into the debate that continues to rage. Depending on your content consumption habits, it made for a great watch or listen.
Both provided arguments over who is to blame - if anybody - for a situation that seems set to end with Alexander-Arnold walking away from his boyhood club after 20 years of sterling service and all for the princely sum of absolutely nothing at all.
But one thing Neville said stuck in the craw - and it was to do with the 26-year-old's popularity compared to other homegrown Reds heroes like Steven Gerrard, Robbie Fowler and Carragher himself.
The Manchester United legend and fan believes Alexander-Arnold is not held in the same affection of the players named above, and instead ranks alongside Michael Owen, who left Liverpool for Real Madrid in before later signing for United after returning to England.
So has Neville got a point? Our writers have their say...
Ian Doyle
Let's cut the chase straight away. Every single homegrown player at Liverpool has had to go through spells - occasionally for years at a time - where they are not regarded flavour of the month among supporters.
Trent Alexander-Arnold is no different than the likes of Gerrard, Fowler and Carragher in that regard. Indeed, it wasn't until the 2004/05 campaign that the latter was properly appreciated, and he'd been a first-team player for more than seven years by that point.
But when it comes to the overall view, there's no doubt Alexander-Arnold is cherished on the same level as the aforementioned trio. And so he should be, having been an integral part of one Premier League title win and, the Reds will hope, another this season. Gerrard, Fowler and Carragher infamously didn't win any.
As for the talk about ranking alongside Owen - that is a generational thing. Owen was singularly responsible for one of the most unexpected and enjoyable triumphs in Liverpool history when having an FA Cup final named after him in helping beat Arsenal in 2001. For anyone present, the striker will always be loved for that alone.
Leaving Liverpool is never easy and, should Alexander-Arnold depart, it'll be tough for some people to take. But life continues, and over time the good memories will be the ones that should linger longest.
And there have been plenty of them with the Scouser in the team. And as one of the game's best right-backs in recent history, a player who has done much to redefine the role, he should be - and is - warmly embraced by Liverpool supporters. Because if not, then nobody else should stand a chance. As a former homegrown right-back himself, Neville should know better.
Theo Squires
For Gary Neville to suggest Trent Alexander-Arnold is not held in the same regard as some of Liverpool's other homegrown heroes is just rubbish. He is the Scouser in the team, the boyhood Red living the dream and one of the most popular players in Arne Slot's ranks.
That is why supporters have been stung so much by his seemingly imminent departure.
By leaving now, at the peak of his powers, he ensures he will not be regarded as highly as Steven Gerrard or Jamie Carragher who loyally stayed, or Robbie Fowler, who didn't want to go and was excited as a child on Christmas day when brought back.
But that only comes into play once he closes in on a departure. For eight years, he has been the player all Scouse children look up to and long to emulate. He is this generation's Steven Gerrard.
Yet he went one step further. He won every major honour going with his boyhood club, including that long-awaited Premier League title that eluded so many before him, and will leave the Reds when they are in a position of strength.
It's his career and he has his reasons, that's fair enough. But it's ignorant to even try and claim that one of them is because he doesn't feel valued by the Liverpool fanbase. In wider footballing circles - which include Neville and tiresome 'Trent can't defend' brigade, perhaps it is a different story.
Maybe Neville is speaking from his own experience, having not been cherished as much as a Paul Scholes or Ryan Giggs at Manchester United. To quote Jamie Carragher, 'no-one grows up wanting to be a Gary Neville'. But every young Scouser wanted to be a Trent Alexander-Arnold.
He has lived their dreams, which is what makes it sting that little bit more to the fanbase, should he indeed walk away when they seemed to be so much more left to give.
Joe Rimmer
Gary Neville is wrong about Liverpool. But then does he ever really get it right about the Reds?
Indeed, if he thinks Liverpool fans don't hold Trent Alexander-Arnold in high esteem then he only needs to see the response to rumours this week that a move to Real Madrid has been agreed.
The hostility shown towards Liverpool's vice-captain only goes to show how highly he is regarded by those who attend Anfield each week.
Liverpool supporters are hurt and they are showing it. Compare that to Michael Owen, who was faced with apathy, rather than anger, when he moved to Spain. It was only a later switch to Manchester United that saw vitriol towards Owen really grow.
Yes, local players can sometimes be taken for granted. That's true of all homegrown product to come through Liverpool's academy.
But it has been Liverpool fans who have backed Trent when he has been misunderstood by the wider nation, misused by England and, ironically, criticised each week by Neville and his old Manchester United team-mates despite being a key player in a team that has won everything since he debuted in 2017.
So for Neville to say otherwise shows his ignorance. But then again, who is surprised? The former Red Devil has a long history of saying what he wants and not what is really happening. That's why he constantly tips his old side to miraculously become successful again.
Don't believe me? Check out his pre-season predictions every single season or simply wait until August for him to do it all again.
Paul Wheelock
Of all the rebuttals Jamie Carragher made to Gary Neville, this was the most pertinent: "You don’t live in Liverpool, you don’t know Liverpool."
Because if Gary Neville did, he would know he is wrong. Yes, there is the mural, yes there is the song, but if you have spent any time in the world of Merseyside junior grassroots football over the past seven or eight years, like I have, then you would know just how loved Alexander-Arnold is.
It has been a great time to be a Liverpool fan. Everywhere you look there is and has been heroes - from Jurgen Klopp to Arne Slot, Alisson Becker to Virgil van Dijk, Gini Wijnaldum to Alexis Mac Allister, and Roberto Firmino to Mohamed Salah. But one of the popular numbers on replica shirts I've seen around these parts? That of the No.66.
We've even had players ask for Alexander-Arnold's number specifically in our junior football teams. That doesn't normally happen for a right-back.
But then again Alexander-Arnold is no normal player. And that's why, if he does indeed swap Merseyside for Madrid, it will hurt. Because Liverpool fans, young and old, saw something of themselves in Alexander-Arnold.
They loved him, and some may still do, because let's remember, unlike Alan Shearer has suggested, there is no one right or wrong way how to feel about the Academy graduate's seemingly impending exit.
But what is right to do is call out Neville's claim for what it is - rubbish.