Jamie Carragher has demanded Real Madrid should pay Liverpool at least $13 million (£10M) in order to sign Trent Alexander-Arnold early, despite Gary Neville and Micah Richards’ derision.
A move to the Bernabeu looks to just be a matter of time now for Alexander-Arnold after he announced he would be leaving Anfield this summer. Despite being under contract with the Reds until the end of June, he could find himself donning the famous white kit even sooner.
Real has already approached Liverpool about signing Alexander-Arnold early in order for him to play at the Club World Cup in the United States this summer. That means the Reds could still receive a fee from the Spanish giant, although the figure being touted might be more than a little underwhelming for Liverpool fans.
According to BBC Sport, Real is considering an offer of around $1.1 million in order for the right-back to be released early from his deal.
To sweeten the deal, it’s also claimed that Real might be willing to pay the wages Liverpool owes to Alexander-Arnold. Discussions between all of the parties involved are said to be amicable as they look for a solution.
Carragher though doesn’t feel that’s nearly enough, especially with the prize money at the Club World Cup reported to be around $125M for the winner.
Reflecting on Alexander-Arnold’s announcement this week, Carragher told Sky Sports: “It’s funny, because everything that comes up about even this now, why announce it now, there’s almost two sides to every argument, and you could almost look at it like if you’re in Trent’s camp, you look at it and think he’s shown great courage there.
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“He’s not waiting until the bus tour’s finished and he announces it so he doesn’t have to see Liverpool fans, so he’s shown some courage. You might get criticism, and he’s having to put up with it.
“And then the flip side of that is, okay you’re announcing it now to give Real Madrid the opportunity to maybe sign you for the Club World Cup.
Neville then interjected, asking Carragher: “Would you take the million quid if you were Liverpool?”
Carragher responded: “I think I’d want a lot more than a million quid.”
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Neville followed up with: “What would you take, what price would it be to go and play in that tournament?”
Carragher paused to think, before replying: “I think if it was about five or 10 million quid…”
Neville and Richards then burst out laughing, leading Carragher to clarify his demand.
“Hang on, have you seen how much money it is to win it? If they win 100 million, and don’t forget they haven’t got any right-back, the right-back they’re playing is not a right-back so it’s not just like bringing a player in, give us 10 million quid!”
Liverpool.com says: Neville and Richards can laugh all they want, but Carragher’s right. If Real wants Alexander-Arnold to play in the Club World Cup so much, it can afford to pay Liverpool a bit more, and let’s face it, just over $1M isn’t going to make much difference to the Reds, whereas $10M would at least feel like a decent return.
