Trent Alexander-Arnold looks set to leave Liverpool for Real Madrid on a free transfer this summer.
TBR Football understand it is a done deal between Alexander-Arnold and Real Madrid, despite Liverpool offering to make their academy graduate the highest earning English player in the Premier League.
Steve McManaman is a man who knows exactly how the Liverpool No.66 will be feeling right now, after choosing to swap Anfield for the Santiago Bernabeu back in 1999 on a free transfer – following 11 years on Merseyside.
The man from Bootle did well in Spain, winning the UEFA Champions League and La Liga twice, while also lifting the UEFA Super Cup and Supercopa de Espana – although his emotions while celebrating these victories should concern Trent Alexander-Arnold.
Steve McManaman wished he was back at Liverpool while celebrating success at Real Madrid
Speaking on the We Are Liverpool Podcast in March 2023, the 53-year-old admitted: “I knew what it meant to play for Liverpool… I didn’t understand the complexities (of playing for Real Madrid).
“I remember we’d just won the Champions League and I’d only been at the club ten months, and the lads were in the dressing room singing Spanish songs and lifting the president up in the air. I joined in but I just felt I was a bit of a fraud. I did, because they’re all singing these Spanish songs and I just thought to myself, this is just weird.
“I got my phone and I took myself out of the dressing room and I went along the corridor and sat on the floor and listened to messages… but I wasn’t in the dressing room celebrating, because I thought it was all a bit weird.
“I remember thinking, I would have loved to have done this with Liverpool because I would have been right at the forefront of it all and sort of knowing all the words and really throwing myself into it. I was very much on the peripheries of all the celebrations just because I couldn’t understand it.”
McManaman made 158 appearances for Los Blancos between 1999 and 2003 – before sealing a move back to England with Manchester City.
Who Liverpool want to replace Trent Alexander-Arnold
Arne Slot already has an outstanding right-back to cover for Alexander-Arnold in Conor Bradley.
However, TBR Football understand Slot wants Jeremie Frimpong to arrive at Anfield and compete against the Northern Ireland international, if his current No.66 does officially seal a move to Real Madrid.
