‘The worst-kept secret in football’ was how Adidas marketed their return as Liverpool’s kit manufacturer ahead of next season.
But news of Trent Alexander-Arnold – ironically, one of Adidas’ most marketable players – opting to make a free transfer move to Real Madrid was similarly unsurprising after months of reports on the 26-year-old’s future.
Alexander-Arnold, ranked at no.11 in FourFourTwo’s list of the best players in the world right now, had claimed last year that he wouldn’t allow talks on his future to be played out in public.
This is your vice-captain speaking (to foreign clubs)
Any media duties since then have become increasingly rare, even as the club’s vice-captain – a position he was promoted to by Jurgen Klopp less than two years ago, with all parties then speaking of a clear pathway to become club captain.
The boyhood Liverpool fan did, though, make the ‘all talk’ gesture after a goal against West Ham days before he was officially able to enter talks with foreign clubs.
It was the same celebration that his England friend, Jude Bellingham, made prior to his move from Dortmund to Madrid.
Three months later and with Trent’s move now all but confirmed, you might call it gaslighting.
Arne Slot said after that goal and celebration that it “probably tells you enough,” insisting he was happy with his trio of soon-to-be out-of-contract players.
That Alexander-Arnold spoke more with his gesture than he did with any other communication to supporters this past year is one of the reasons his move to Madrid isn’t being accepted too kindly on Merseyside.
How Liverpool and Alexander-Arnold got to this stage
Alexander-Arnold’s departure this summer started when he was negotiating his last contract, which was renewed in the summer of 2021. Liverpool, as always, announced it as a “long-term contract” but the four years that the player agreed to was unusual and you can safely assume he was offered at least five years but refused to agree to the terms offered.
That last contract renewal was overseen by then-sporting director Michael Edwards, who is now back working as FSG’s chief executive of football having quit his position as sporting director in 2022.
The upheaval and uncertainty since then has contributed to the position Liverpool find themselves in today; Alexander-Arnold departing on a free while in his prime, and two of the club’s greatest players in Virgil van Dijk and Mohamed Salah now nine games from ending their careers despite both making their intentions to stay clear.
All of which is sadly overshadowing the club’s likely procession to a record-equalling 20th league title.
Edwards resigned from his post and left in 2022. In his place, Julian Ward was promoted, but he quit just months into the role and left in summer 2023.
(Ward, like Edwards, has since returned, now the club’s technical director). With claims of Klopp then having increasing power in transfer strategy, in came a temporary sporting director, compatriot Jorg Schmadtke.
He left after eight months in February 2024, shortly after Klopp announced his decision to leave the club.
In the meantime, FSG had temporarily put the club up for sale in late 2022 and director Michael Gordon, a hugely influential and important figure behind the scenes, had stepped back from his role before resuming his involvement in spring 2023.
Apologies for the history lesson but you’re perhaps starting to realise now how Liverpool got themselves into the situation of having their three most influential players and three of the best players in European football all being out of contract in the same summer.
So to say that new sporting director Richard Hughes inherited a difficult situation upon his appointment last summer might be the understatement of the year.
Hughes has faced criticism from some supporters but the reality is it should never have reached this stage.
What could Liverpool have done?
So to take the question of how Liverpool could have avoided the situation?
While everybody will like a simple answer and the human instinct in such situations is often to find somebody or something to blame, it’s far more complicated than that.
Not least because we on the outside do not know the exact events that triggered such developments or discussions behind the scenes.
Much reporting has claimed that Liverpool have, throughout this season, remained in talks over a new deal with their vice-captain, but other reports have now suggested that Alexander-Arnold had planned for the move long before this campaign began.
There will be claim and counter claim, especially when Real Madrid are involved.
Clearly, the period of uncertainty in Liverpool’s hierarchy hasn’t helped, and having four sporting directors in four years isn’t something any professional football club should be looking to adopt when assessing the soon-to-be-champions’ strategy.
You also cannot take all three out-of-contract players in the same context.
Salah and Van Dijk turn 33 and 34, respectively, this summer, and that has no doubt contributed to Liverpool’s approach.
Whether that’s the correct approach or if seemingly playing hardball is a case of trying to be too smart to the point that it alienates two of your greatest-ever players is open for debate.
But with Alexander-Arnold, clearly the club have sought to keep a prime-aged player, a local hero and a player who had, up until the past 12 months, professed his love for the club and desire to play out his career at Anfield and become captain of his club.
Those statements of intent took a change of tact in the last year, speaking more of individual accolades and sounding more and more like a Galactico whenever he did speak to media.
The writing was on the wall when he spoke again of Ballon d’Or ambitions last October, having effectively told FourFourTwo the same thing in January 2024, this time telling Sky Sports that he wants to be the first full-back to do so.
The writing was on the wall when he spoke again of Ballon d’Or ambitions last October, having effectively told FourFourTwo the same thing in January 2024, this time telling Sky Sports that he wants to be the first full-back to do so.
Given that Real Madrid players have won the coveted award more times than any other, a move to the Bernabeu certainly heightens such individual ambitions.
“It’s only the morning after you retire that you’re able to look in the mirror and say, ‘I gave it everything I got’,” added Alexander-Arnold in that interview, providing another insight into his thinking.
A player only gets one career and he has chosen to do that his way, no matter the upset it causes in his hometown.
Could Liverpool have avoided Alexander-Arnold seeking pastures new, a change in lifestyle and an opportunity to write his name into football history?
There’s an argument that the owners showing more ambition in recent years may have helped, something even Klopp admitted to.
Even now, Alexander-Arnold could ask the club if he were to stay would he playing alongside Van Dijk and Salah still and the answer isn’t affirmative.
Sometimes both things can be true, yes Liverpool have created a very messy situation, but Alexander-Arnold has chosen his exit for his own personal ambitions and that may be something the club couldn’t have prevented.
What’s most disappointing is the manner of which the exit has developed and how it could take the shine off what should see supporters celebrate a league title at Anfield for the first time in 35 years.
Who knows what reception Alexander-Arnold will get on May 25th.
For now, what the club can do to improve the mood and ensure the title win doesn’t become more of a wake than a celebration is get the other two contracts signed and in doing so provide clarity for supporters, teammates and prospective new signings.
Ultimately, Liverpool will exist and win trophies long after Alexander-Arnold departs.
