Trent Alexander-Arnold
Talk of a move to Real Madrid in the summer, when the defender’s contract expires, intensified during the international break even though the situation has not changed significantly since the January window when the Spanish side made a £20million offer to sign the England international.
There has been no official move by Real to inform Liverpool they have agreed a deal with the 26-year-old, but the signs all seem to be pointing towards an exit for the academy graduate.
“His situation is unfortunately that he is injured and for him that means he is fully focused on his recovery,” Slot said ahead of the Premier League leaders’ Merseyside derby at home to Everton.
“For us it means we will try to help him to be back as soon as he can. And for the rest (speculation), for eight months it went a bit up and down with talks about him, Virgil (van Dijk) or Mo (Mohamed Salah), but we have never been focused on those talks, we have always been focused on what we have to do.
“For Virgil and Mo, that is trying to win the Merseyside derby and for Trent it is trying to be fit as soon as he can.
“I think all these three players have performed so well under these circumstances so it doesn’t affect me at all.”