Arne Slot has hinted Trent Alexander-Arnold ’s future is not yet decided, a week on from the reports of his expected move to Real Madrid.
The Liverpool right-back’s contract is set to expire at the end of the season, and it’s widely believed he will join Los Blancos on a free transfer this summer. That topic was the first question posed to Slot as he returned to media duties on Tuesday ahead of the Merseyside derby, and dominated headlines during the international break.
Despite that, from Liverpool’s perspective nothing has changed in recent weeks and no deal has yet been reached with Real. While most seem sure the 26-year is off to the Spanish capital, Slot threw a curve ball during an interview on Tuesday, stating no-one “knows what’s going to happen”.
“There has been no change at all in his behavior or the way we look at things,” Slot told Sky Sports ahead of the clash against Everton at Anfield. “Nothing has changed at all. No, not for us, not for me. I’ve worked with these three players [Alexander-Arnold, Virgil van Dijk and Mohamed Salah] for almost eight or nine months now, and the same situation is still there. The outside world doesn’t know what’s going to happen.”
On Alexander-Arnold, Slot added: “There is a lot of talk about [Trent], like there is about Virgil and about Mo. But that also tells you what a quality player he is, because there are many players around the world that have a contract that ends in the summer, and nobody talks about them.
“But there are a lot of [people talking] about these players for the simple reason that they are so good. But here in the building, we don’t talk about that.”
(Image: Chris Brunskill/Fantasista, Getty Images)
Alexander-Arnold will not be available for what could be the final Merseyside derby of his Liverpool career due to the ankle injury he sustained three weeks ago against Paris Saint-Germain, although he is expected to return before the season’s conclusion.
“The situation is that he’s injured. He’s fully focused on his recovery,” Slot said, when asked about the academy graduate. “We’ve never been focused on those [contract] talks. For Mo and Virg, the focus is on winning the Merseyside derby. For Trent, it is on being fit as soon as he can.”
Without Alexander-Arnold, and with Conor Bradley also injured, Slot is likely to hand Jarell Quansah a starting berth at right-back. The defender was deployed in that role in the Carabao Cup final defeat to Newcastle United.
