The real reason Liverpool fans WON’T forgive Trent Alexander-Arnold

Trent Alexander-Arnold is officially leaving Liverpool and it hasn’t gone down well. Here’s why the fans won’t forgive.

There you go, it’s been confirmed now and everyone can stop pretending. Trent Alexander-Arnold is leaving Liverpool at the end of his contract this summer.

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It’s been very, very predictable. This season, after all, saw Liverpool dealing with three expiring contracts as Mo Salah and Virgil van Dijk were both coming to the end of theirs.

Alexander-Arnold’s was seen by many to be the easiest. Local lad, boyhood Red, always said he wants to be captain and no worries about his age.

Only, as the season went on, it was more and more obvious that his was actually the most difficult. Rumours were rampant that Alexander-Arnold actually wanted to leave for Real Madrid.

There was one telling sign that the rumours of an exit had something behind them: Alexander-Arnold never talked about the situation. Ever.

Salah and Van Dijk were very open about everything that was going on. The Scouser never said a word in public.

There was a good reason for that, too. He didn’t have any good news for Liverpool. Alexander-Arnold was going to leave, has known he was off for a long time, and ultimately decided to call time on his Anfield career.

The fans aren’t happy with that, despite a legion of non-Liverpool fans telling them they should wish him well. That isn’t going to happen, though, and here’s my best attempt at an explanation why.

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Why we won’t forgive Trent Alexander-Arnold

Alexander-Arnold started his senior career with Liverpool and has stuck around since. He’s won everything with the Reds, playing a key role and producing some truly incredible moments.

At 26, he’s decided to leave. Now, he says this is for a new challenge and while it’s not confirmed that he’s off to Real Madrid, that challenge is to play for Real Madrid.

For starters: what’s the challenge there? To experience a new country? It can only be that because it is not a ’new challenge’ to go and play for the most successful club on the planet. And maybe that would be acceptable if Alexander-Arnold had mentioned a desire to do that before the last 18 months. Maybe if he hadn’t constantly talked about captaining the club and wanting to spend his career here, it would be taken as he hopes.

Instead, it just feels like an excuse for what’s really happening here. Alexander-Arnold wants to hand his prime years (or what he perceives to be them) to Real Madrid. Liverpool don’t deserve them.

That has been planned. Go back to the start of Alexander-Arnold’s current contract and something strange happened. He signed a four-year contract at a time when older teammates, such as Alisson Becker, signed six-year contracts.

It is inconceivable that Liverpool didn’t offer the younger, homegrown talent the same six-year deal. Alexander-Arnold wanted a four-year deal, meaning his contract ended now at 26 - right at the start of a footballer’s ‘peak’.

Those years will now go to Real Madrid, like so many others. There is absolutely a feeling that this was the plan, especially with his public desire to win the Ballon d’Or.

That appears to be a bigger motivation for him than playing for Liverpool. Despite the fact that playing for Real Madrid doesn’t feel like a particularly good way to win the Ballon d’Or. Not after last year.

So there’s what’s happening here. Alexander-Arnold is putting himself above Liverpool. He sees a better place for his prime, his peak, and his best years. There’s no feeling that ‘a trophy with Liverpool means more than a trophy with anyone else’ - he feels there’s more to this than winning with the Reds.

And so if that’s how Alexander-Arnold sees it, of course fans are then going to put the club above him. The fans are the club, after all.

This, then, is a player showing the fans that he’s above what’s dearest to them. The fans can’t change who they belong to, not if they want it to have meaning.

As a player, Alexander-Arnold can and he’s jumping at the chance to do so. Telling the fans to their face that there is something more important than that love for Liverpool and it’s playing for Real Madrid.

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Why wouldn’t everyone take that personally? Why wouldn’t the reaction be to hit back at the person who has always claimed to be one of them but clearly isn’t? The one saying that loving Liverpool is secondary.