Trent Alexander-Arnold has been told that some lonely times could lie ahead for him in Madrid as he prepares to bid farewell to boyhood club Liverpool.
Alexander-Arnold ‘s impending Reds exit was confimed earlier this week as he informed fans of his decision to seek a new challenge, which will come in the shape of a transfer to Real Madrid.
He follows a number of players in switching Anfield for the Bernabeu over the last few decades, and Steve McManaman, who made the same move in 1999, recalled how he adapted to living in a new country.
“Of course, it was difficult,” McManaman said. “I had to learn the language. Of course, you go to a new club where you feel slightly lonely at times, where you don’t know everybody, but it’s a transition I knew that I had to make.
“I knew it’d be like that, but you go into it with your eyes wide open, and you know that you have to work hard, you have to learn the language, you have to join in with your friends, you have to impress on the football field. So they would be the things that I would be saying to [Alexander-Arnold] if he did go there. The pressure to succeed is enormous. You know, you have to add to the history of the club you’re joining.
(Image: Graham Chadwick/ALLSPORT)
“Liverpool have got a very wide, successful history. And likewise, Madrid – your job as a new player is to add to the history, is to win another trophy. And the bigger the trophies, the better. And it’s easier to acclimatize when you are successful. It’s easy to win over the fans when you’re lifting trophies.”
McManaman believes that there are plenty of similarities between Liverpool and Madrid as clubs. He told the Daily Mail : “When I arrived there, not a lot of people in Madrid spoke English. But as you can imagine, everybody in every restaurant, in every bar, in every hotel speaks English.
“Of course, away from the football whatever club he joined, he would get lots of help, you know, from player liaison officers, just to help him acclimatize and help him, you know, with relocation, etc., etc., but on the field itself, [having other English speakers] will be very handy.
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“I feel, and even when I go back to Madrid now, they’re both very family-oriented clubs, there’s staff there that have worked at the club for 20, 30, 40, years, which is always a nice thing to see.
“You know, every time you walk around Anfield, or every time you walk around the Bernabeu, there’s pictures on the wall of past history, there’s always ex-players walking around. So I always feel like they’re very close to each other.’
