‘It’s the only club I’ve ever known. It’s a proud moment — it always is — signing a new contract here. I live the dream every day.’ That was Trent Alexander-Arnold, July 30, 2021.
Amazing to think, then, that in 130 days this Liverpool emblem will be free to begin conversations that could end his dream.
Across Europe, big clubs will be watching in amazement, scarcely able to believe they could land this shimmering jewel for free next summer.
Put yourself in Florentino Perez’s shoes — with Dani Carvajal entering the twilight of his career, who better to take over as Real Madrid’s right back than Alexander-Arnold?
Not having to pay a fee for him would be like robbing a bank in broad daylight and waving at the security cameras on the way out.
Trent Alexander-Arnold, 25, has less than a year remaining on his contract at Liverpool
It is scarcely believable that top clubs could land this shimmering jewel for free next summer
Alexander-Arnold is the boyhood Red who is living his dream by playing for Liverpool
Transfer windows, particularly the summer one, always come with a whiff of hysteria for Liverpool. There is a section of fans, particularly those vocal ones online, who place more emphasis on the business that gets done rather than results, so the last few months have been particularly fractious.
Martin Zubimendi’s decision to remain at Real Sociedad last week detonated the emotional cannons, with fury descending on owners Fenway Sports Group and new sporting director Richard Hughes for their failure to secure the No6 that Liverpool appear to need.
There are 132 football clubs across Europe’s top seven divisions and, remarkably, only Liverpool have not signed a player in 2024. They do want to correct that though and have spent a month trying to broker a deal with Valencia for Georgian goalkeeper Giorgio Mamardashvili.
It is not the inability to bring in new faces, however, that should cause alarm — it’s the failure to re-sign totems that should be focusing minds, and each day that passes without an update seems to makes the grains of sand in the timer run a bit quicker.
You will be familiar with the situation that manager Arne Slot has inherited — Mohamed Salah, Virgil van Dijk and Alexander-Arnold have all entered the final year of their contracts, but there is no indication that their impasses will soon be resolved.
If that has not changed by January 1, Liverpool will be powerless to stop them talking to clubs outside the Premier League about potential moves.
Normally so fiscally responsible, it will not be lost on Liverpool that stars with a current market value of £250million could leave for nothing.
With Salah and Van Dijk it is complicated. Both are aged over 30 and FSG have always looked at the bottom line, rather than considering past achievements and reputations, when negotiating with players in that age group. The tough stance, unsurprisingly, has not always been popular.
In some respects, it is not a shock they have allowed Salah and Van Dijk to enter the last 12 months. For Alexander-Arnold to be in the same position, though, is flabbergasting and taking care of that should have been the priority in the summer of 2023, never mind now.
One of the curiosities of the modern game is that a wider audience always attaches a ‘but’ when discussing Alexander-Arnold’s merits. ‘He’s good, but he can’t defend,’ or ‘He’s a great crosser, but can’t play midfield.’
It is flabbergasting Liverpool have got themselves into this situation with Alexander-Arnold
Jordan Henderson once described Alexander-Arnold as a ‘generational talent’ and he is right
The 25-year-old is the best player to come through Liverpool’s academy since Steven Gerrard
Think about how it was in Germany this summer. He was a lightning rod for the mundanity of England’s play in the opening group games, critics questioning his suitability for playing in central midfield and picking on his weaknesses, rather than thinking about how he could be best utilised.
It is all bogus. He is a breathtaking player, the best to graduate from Liverpool’s academy since Steven Gerrard. Watch the pass he made in the build-up to Liverpool’s opening goal at Ipswich last Saturday, like a crown green bowl rolling to a jack.
Alexander-Arnold used to exasperate Jordan Henderson when he was younger.
He would try a 50-yard pass that would not come off, then try it again with the same outcome. Henderson would glower, furious possession had been squandered. Then, at the third try, he would pull off something spectacular and Henderson would find himself clapping in disbelief.
‘I’ll put it this way,’ Henderson wrote in his autobiography. ‘I don’t even want him to use 0.001 per cent of the talent he has got. He has to achieve everything he can. He does what he thinks is right. He’s got that level of confidence to keep doing the right things, rather than taking the safe option.’
Henderson maintains Alexander-Arnold has a ‘generational talent’ and he is right.
It feels like he has been around forever, but he is still only 25 and that is why it defies belief that Liverpool might not have him in their ranks in August 2025, with his peak years still to be played out.
Perez, Madrid’s insatiable president, has taken players from Anfield before. Winger Steve McManaman was the first in 1999, with his contract having elapsed. Some fans felt he acted in his own interests, but it always gets forgotten that Liverpool tried to sell him to Barcelona behind his back two years earlier.
Michael Owen was next in 2004, Rafa Benitez cashing in for £8m rather than letting him go for nothing 12 months later, while Xabi Alonso went in 2009 for £30m.
They all wanted to leave and few could argue as Liverpool were in a completely different place to now.
None of that will stop Madrid, or countless others, from testing the water. The link to the Spanish capital is obvious, as Alexander-Arnold has a close friendship with Jude Bellingham, forged on England duty, and the pair went on holiday in California together after the Euros had finished.
He has never given any indication publicly that he wants a new challenge or that he is unhappy with life at Anfield.
If Arne Slot is to achieve his aims over the next three years, he will need Alexander-Arnold
Alexander-Arnold has never given any indication publicly that he wants a new challenge
But with his contract running down, the defender has been linked with Real Madrid, rumours that have only been enhanced thanks to his close friendship with Jude Bellingham
He has a good family around him who have always provided firm foundations, and mum Dianne’s influence on his career has been there throughout, as she worked on his first contract.
From afar, all looks serene. He has always had an inquisitive mind, eager to self-improve, so Jurgen Klopp’s departure over the summer was never something at which he was going to recoil.
Slot’s arrival is something he has embraced, as an incident posted on the club’s social media channels proved.
‘Nothing is impossible,’ Alexander-Arnold told Slot with a smile, as he bent his second attempt into the goal from 10 yards behind the touchline.
It is a small snapshot, but the Dutchman’s shake of the head was genuine, a recognition of seeing a different talent at work.
If Slot is going to achieve what he wants to over the next three seasons, it is imperative he has Alexander-Arnold — with 19 goals and 81 assists from 311 appearances — at his call, every bit as much as he needs Salah and Van Dijk.
This is a player who represents the recent glorious past, the promising present and an exciting future.
He also comes with the X-factor of being just like those who go to Anfield every other week, his childhood spent peering through cracks in the Melwood training ground walls stargazing.
‘The dream is to captain Liverpool,’ he told me during his first major interview as an 18-year-old in May 2017.
He has taken the armband five times since then, becoming the club’s youngest skipper in Europe in December 2020, but what he really meant was he wanted it permanently.
We pressed him on it because it was such an unusual declaration. In these situations, you will always hear young players tell of their desire to win the game’s biggest honours or play in defining matches but, already, his eyes were on creating a legacy.
He was ready for the world to change, too. A couple of weeks earlier, he had been in the city centre and been stopped for the first time for a selfie and an autograph.
The most surreal part was still to come, when he saw someone wearing a shirt with his name on it.
‘I was taken aback,’ he said, wide-eyed. ‘I never thought I could mean that much to someone. I’m just a lad playing for Liverpool trying to achieve his dream.
‘There will be goals to achieve along the way, but until I captain Liverpool I will not be satisfied.’
Real Madrid have taken Liverpool players before, like Michael Owen for £8m back in 2004
But so far Alexander-Arnold has shown he is up for the challenge at Anfield under Arne Slot
Since then, Alexander-Arnold has scaled heights he could not have imagined. His trophy cabinet is comfortably stocked, his standing on the Kop is unquestioned and his God-given ability makes him one of the first names on the teamsheet. Yet here we are. There has been unease about his situation since the final day of last season, when he tearfully stood in front of the Kop on his own and clapped.
Many wondered if he was saying goodbye — many will now wonder whether he will do it for real come May.
Whatever finances are involved in a new contract, it must be looked at in a different way.
It would cost a king’s ransom to find a player with similar ability, but the Scouser in Liverpool’s team is irreplaceable.
They are the only club he has ever known. It is up to them to make it stay that way.
