Trent Alexander-Arnold had a long time to work out what he wants next in his career. And last week, he announced that he had made up his mind: he is leaving Liverpool for Real Madrid, in search of a change.
While the factors that went into his decision are understandable— he wants to experience a new culture and try something different — it was a decision that was never going to go down well. Over the weekend, some Liverpool fans booed him as he played for the Reds in the penultimate game that will be played in his contract.
Former Manchester United defender Gary Neville, now a pundit for Sky Sports, has experience of what it is like to lose a key man to Real Madrid, and he picked out two examples that this situation reminds him of.
“When I use David Beckham as an example, people say, ‘Well, he’s not from Manchester’,” Neville said on The Overlap, brought to you by Sky Bet. “But he may as well have been.
“From five or six, he was a Manchester United fan. He joined the club at 13. His mum and dad came up every week to watch.
“It came as a shock to the fans at the end of the season when nobody was expecting it. The other one is Cristiano Ronaldo.
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“At the end of the 2008 Champions League final, he said he wanted to leave. United negotiated another year and he played another season but everyone knew he was going to go.
“But he still got a decent reception all year. I know it is different, but they are the only two examples.”
Arne Slot must now decide whether to play Alexander-Arnold in the final two games of the season or risk the player being booed again against Brighton (away) and Crystal Palace (home).
The Liverpool head coach said he brought Alexander-Arnold on against Arsenal because he wanted to win the game. But the number 66’s exit should not dominate the narrative when Liverpool’s Premier League title win should be the focus.
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“This club has been my whole life — my whole world — for 20 years,” Alexander-Arnold said when he confirmed his exit. “From the academy right through until now, the support and love I have felt from everyone inside and outside of the club will stay with me forever.
“I will forever be in debt to you all. But, I have never known anything else and this decision is about experiencing a new challenge, taking myself out of my comfort zone and pushing myself both professionally and personally.”
Liverpool.com says: Alexander-Arnold has made up his mind and he is going to have to live with the reaction. He would have known that it wasn’t going to go down well, and it hasn’t. That is no huge surprise.
Like when Manchester United moved on from Beckham and Ronaldo, though, Liverpool will do the same. Arne Slot would much rather keep the best right-back in the world, but his side will be fine without him.
