So it's official. Trent Alexander-Arnold is set to become a Real Madrid player.
The news will not have exactly surprised Liverpool fans, many of whom have experienced a range of emotions in recent weeks over the player’s departure.
Many feel hurt that a boyhood Red who spoke of his desire to captain Liverpool has decided to leave the club - and his home city. Those feelings were exacerbated by the player’s decision to walk away for free, leaving the Reds without compensation after losing a highly valuable asset.
Ironically, after the months of rancour, that isn’t the case.
Instead, Liverpool has received a not insignificant figure for the player, with an initial €10 million ($11.3M/£8.4M) fee agreed for his immediate transfer to the Bernabeu. Alexander-Arnold will be a Galactico by the end of the week and will feature at the revamped Club World Cup under Xabi Alonso. It's a script a boyhood Red could scarcely believe.
Likewise, Liverpool may have to pinch itself for securing up to £10M ($13.5m) for a player who has a month left on his contract. It’s a staggering piece of business.
Liverpool has also relieved itself of Alexander-Arnold's final monthly salary and justified its decision not to accept Real's £20M ($27M) offer in December. It has banked nearly half of that despite the right-back already playing his final game for the club.
Trent Alexander-Arnold
Alexander-Arnold has played his final game for Liverpool. (Image: Getty Images)
In short, Liverpool has played a blinder here.
The transfer fee will cover around a quarter of Jeremie Frimpong’s cost, and nearly matches the figure paid for Federico Chiesa last summer.
Liverpool has also won the PR war in what could have descended into a sticky transfer saga. Yes, they have lost one of their star names, but the Reds have already lined up a high-quality replacement and avoided a poisonous divorce with a player viewed as the shining light by the club’s academy.
Allowing Alexander-Arnold to stage a farewell bash at the training ground and publicly sharing his goodbye message to the squad underlines that this departure is by no means acrimonious.
Jeremie Frimpong.
Jeremie Frimpong will replaced Alexander-Arnold at Liverpool. (Image: Photo by Pau Barrena/Getty Images)
And yet, the club has not allowed itself to be bullied by Real, typically the biggest kid in the playground.
Given that its opening offer for the player was around €1M ($1.1M/£0.85M), it's Real who have ultimately had to bend to the will of another European superpower. That doesn't happen too often.
Liverpool held all the cards in this battle and was able to demand an extortionate fee.
Los Blancos may feel that the ends justify the means in this situation. It is adding one of the world's best defenders for a paltry fee, which could help Real win the Club World Cup later this summer.
Should that happen and Real pockets an astronomical $125M in the process, few would quibble over the cost of signing the England international early.
Maybe, it’s win, win, win then. For Alexander-Arnold, he also avoided a toxic sendoff with the fans, many of whom were so disappointed by the jeers he received against Arsenal that they made doubly sure to cheer on his Anfield exit last Sunday.
It may be the last time in his playing career that Alexander-Arnold is lauded by the Anfield crowd.
It’s FSG, Michael Edwards and Richard Hughes earning the acclaim now.