£10m Liverpool deal is just NOT working out

Trent Alexander-Arnold’s move from Liverpool to Real Madrid is not working out for anyone.

The 27-year-old left Anfield after two decades of playing in red just one month before the end of his contract in the summer of 2025.

As Madrid wanted to bring forward what should have been a free transfer - in order to field Trent in the FIFA Club World Cup - the Reds received a fee of around £10m.

They also signed Jeremie Frimpong from Bayer Leverkusen - for £29m - and gave a new long-term contract to Conor Bradley.

Any suggestion that Liverpool have replaced Trent with those two deals can be immediately dispelled.

Liverpool's post-TAA plans in ruins

Bradley is out for the season after suffering a painful injury against Arsenal last week while Frimpong is evidently not a full-back. Instead Arne Slot has had to use Dominik Szoboszlai and Joe Gomez in the right-back position in this post-Alexander-Arnold era.

No one can suggest that this was the plan to move on from one of the world’s elite right-backs. Trent’s loss has also had a huge knock-on effect for the rest of the team.

Mo Salah isn’t as productive with the evidence suggesting that he is missing the supply that used to come from his flank. He is in more ways than one - irreplaceable. One day he should have been captain of this club and leading it to multiple honours.

But he gave all that up for the bright lights - and pay rise - on offer at Real Madrid. It would be one thing if Trent actually went on to bigger and better things - but he didn’t. Madrid are frustrating work in progress under Xabi Alonso.

Trent a marginal figure at Madrid

They have world-class talent but too often have to use square pegs in round holes. It doesn’t look like they will win the Spanish league title and they were beaten in the final of the Super Cup on Sunday night by Barcelona too.

In all of this Alexander-Arnold has been a marginal figure at best. Poor form and injuries have restricted his impact thus far. The Madrid media isn’t happy and there have been suggestions that the club will offload him in the summer.

Alexander-Arnold was given a runners-up medal in Jeddah on Sunday night but he wasn’t playing. Following his latest injury in December he is not expected back until early February.

His time in the Bernabeu has been a total washout and to rub salt in the wounds he’s even lost his place in the England squad just months ahead of the FIFA World Cup.

Alexander-Arnold should have stayed

What next? He may follow in the footsteps of Michael Owen and find a club in England who can satisfy his wage demands but not give him the love he had at Anfield.

He may stick it out at Madrid in a forlorn hope of turning it around. But his proneness to too many injuries is going to have patience wearing thin.

It’s abundantly clear that he should have stayed at Liverpool. The club would have bent over backwards to give him anything he wanted and Liverpool are far less powerful due to his absence.

We can point to any number of reasons for the club’s under-performance this season but in reality it’s Trent’s move that is right on top of the list.

There’s no going back and what a shame it is. This is a transfer deal which has satisfied nobody - and left Liverpool AND Trent Alexander-Arnold all the weaker for it.

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