If any Liverpool fans are still on the fence about Trent Alexander-Arnold’s impending exit, Real Madrid has just given a pretty good reason for them to be enraged.
We all of course know now that the right-back will be leaving Anfield this summer, and you would have had to have been living under a rock to not know where he’ll end up. Supporters made their feelings perfectly clear at Anfield on Sunday, and despite some of the opposing views being flung around by rivals and others away from Merseyside, those fans are perfectly entitled to feel let down by Alexander-Arnold’s actions over the past 12 months.
Much of that ill-feeling is down to the way in which he has gone about this move, employing near silence and insisting his future wouldn’t be played out in public, despite everyone knowing full well what the end result would be well before he finally announced his decision.
If there was one crumb of comfort, it was that Real would at least be forced into paying a fee after all if it wanted Alexander-Arnold involved in this summer’s Club World Cup. Apparently though, the biggest club in the world feels it shouldn’t give Liverpool the paltry sum that would cover the final few weeks of his deal at Anfield.
According to The Telegraph, the Bernabeu club has now asked the Reds to release Alexander-Arnold from his contract for free. All so he can play in a tournament that Liverpool and the majority of the soccer world couldn’t care less about.
Despite approaching Liverpool last week shortly after Alexander-Arnold’s announcement, Real has seemingly decided it won’t make a financial offer, and simply hopes that the Reds will relent and let him join his new club for nothing, just in time for him to play in the group stages in the United States.
Put simply, Real Madrid can get in the bin. I would use stronger language if I was allowed to.
(Image: Getty Images)
There’s no other way of putting it – this is nothing but an insult from Real. A club that boasts some of the biggest players in the world, is listed as the richest club in the world, and could go on to win over $100 million by winning this tournament that they so desperately want Alexander-Arnold to play in.
Yet, they’ve now decided they won’t even throw a consolatory $1.1M Liverpool’s way in order to take one of its biggest players off its hands. Even that amount wouldn’t be anywhere near enough, but at least it’s something.
Jamie Carragher put it best a few months ago when he described Real as “bullies”. Bear in mind, that was after they’d offered $27M for Liverpool to effectively jeopardize its chances of winning the Premier League – and a potential quadruple at that point.
Now we’re supposed to believe they can’t scrimp together a seven-figure sum? Yeah, right.
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Hopefully Liverpool and FSG don’t need me to tell them this, but there’s only one thing they should be doing with that request.
No matter how much it clearly thinks everything should just be handed to it on a silver platter, Real Madrid is in no such position to make that kind of demand. Alexander-Arnold is under contract at Liverpool until June 30 – if you want him before then, you pay for him.
It’s not up to Liverpool to help Real Madrid win a tournament it has absolutely no part in. If the biggest club in the world needs Alexander-Arnold so much to get past the likes of Al-Hilal, Pachuca and Red Bull Salzburg, then it should be coughing up for his services.
This insulting request tells you all you need to know about what Real thinks of the rest of the soccer world, and Liverpool should not give in to it.
