Trent Alexander Arnold to Real Madrid: First FIFA Club World Cup hurdle now cleared

Trent Alexander-Arnold has now confirmed he is leaving Liverpool at the end of the season. The right-back is due to be out of contract in 2025, and has now communicated his decision to depart across his social media channels.

It is a devastating blow for the Reds - so soon after winning the Premier League title - but life goes on with Conor Bradley now set for a more important role.

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But Trent’s mind is made up. He is bringing down the curtain on a two-decade Anfield stay with Real Madrid widely expected to be his next destination.

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Los Blancos have made overtures to Trent this year in order to come to the Bernabeu and replace Dani Carvajal. Their efforts to sign Trent for £20m in the January transfer window were knocked back and now Liverpool could end up losing him for nothing.

FIFA opens new transfer windows

Madrid initially wanted the 26-year-old for the Champions League knockouts - with Carvajal injured and Lucas Vazquez not an adequate deputy. But they were forced to muddle on with stopgaps.

Now the Spanish capital club want Trent for the FIFA Club World Cup. The inaugural tournament comes at a very awkward time for participating clubs.

FIFA has had to open two additional transfer periods in order for teams to register new players. One runs from June 1 to June 10 and the other from June 27 to July 3.

Alexander-Arnold’s Liverpool contract won’t expire until June 30. If he were to leave at the end of his contract, he would be only eligible to be registered for the knockout portion of the competition.

But if Madrid want him for the group stages then they will need to sign him from Liverpool before the end of his contract.

Trent informs Liverpool he wants to leave

AS reported last week that Alexander-Arnold would receive a “green light” to play in the Club World Cup on three conditions.

One would be that the player communicates his decision to leave to Liverpool directly.

The second is that he would have to waive his salary for the final month of his contract - saving Liverpool £720,000 or thereabouts. And finally, it would mean Madrid paying Liverpool a fee in order to transfer Trent ahead of schedule.

That could be around €1m according to AS.

Reports suggest that Trent informed Arne Slot of his decision to quit the club back in March so it’s safe to assume the first of those three criteria has been settled.

So it could come to pass that Trent joins Madrid during the Club World Cup transfer window, in line to make his debut on June 18 vs Al Hilal.

Either way, it hardly matters to Liverpool fans now. Whatever is in Trent’s future is no longer their priority.

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He may very well go and win the Club World Cup - and more - with Madrid but nothing will ever compare to winning the Premier League and Champions League with his hometown club.