Trent Alexander-Arnold: Should Liverpool superstar opt for Real Madrid riches or become a Reds legend?
The next few months will provide a watershed moment for one of English football’s finest talents.
Trent Alexander-Arnold has achieved everything possible at Liverpool and has become one of the club’s greatest-ever defenders. Having won every major trophy, in many ways, he has "completed football" at Anfield.
This raises the question of whether he should call time on his career on Merseyside and turn down the opportunity to sign a new contract.
Widespread reports suggest Spanish giants Real Madrid are interested in signing Alexander-Arnold on a free transfer next season. He has yet to agree to a new contract with Liverpool, leaving the door open for him to sign a pre-contract agreement with a foreign club as early as January.
To complicate matters for Liverpool, Jude Bellingham, Alexander-Arnold's close friend and former transfer target of the club, has been reportedly talking up Real Madrid to him during their time together with the England national team.
All signs indicate that Trent is seriously evaluating his future at Liverpool, the club where he has made over 320 appearances.
Transfer Value - how much is Alexander-Arnold worth?
According to our Player Valuation Model, Alexander-Arnold currently has an Estimated Transfer Value (ETV) of €28.1 million, a surprisingly low figure due to his contract expiring at the end of the current season.
His ETV peaked at €103.5 million in 2021 when he signed a new deal through to 2025.
Since then, it has steadily declined.
Trent’s big decision - should he stay or should he go?
There are compelling arguments on both sides as to whether Alexander-Arnold should end his stay with Liverpool. A move to the Santiago Bernabeu would offer the chance to prove himself in a different league, with the added prestige of joining arguably the biggest club in the world.
It makes sense for Real Madrid too; with Dani Carvajal turning 33 and having just suffered a serious knee injury, they will soon need a long-term successor at right-back.
However, Alexander-Arnold is a very different player from Carvajal. He’s a technically gifted, ball-playing full-back with a passing range unmatched by any other defender in world football.
Some doubted whether Alexander-Arnold could thrive under Liverpool’s new tactical approach, particularly under manager Arne Slot. But he has since dispelled those concerns - even though he wasn’t happy to be substituted during the match against Brentford earlier this season.
"I said to him [Slot] that I would like to be the defender that no-one wants to come up against in Europe," Alexander-Arnold said earlier in the season
"We agreed that he would be harsh on me. If any time an attacker gets by me and gets past me, he will call it out in meetings, and individual meetings, and say this cannot happen. We go through every game together and he highlights where he wants me to improve.
"Even after the Milan game, we had about 20 clips going through what I could have done better and the good parts as well.
"It is really refreshing to have a manager who will help and guide and teach me how to be better as a player. I am someone who wants to learn, someone who wants to be the best and someone who strives to be the best ever."
Even though joining Real Madrid could bolster his legacy and solidify his place among the greatest right-backs of all time, especially with the club constantly in contention for Champions League titles, there is no reason why he can’t do that right back at home.
Furthermore, there's something deeply poignant about Alexander-Arnold remaining at Liverpool.
In today’s game, it's rare for players - especially world-class ones in their prime - to stay at a single club throughout their entire careers. Should he stay, he could join a select list of one-club legends like Paul Scholes, Carles Puyol, Paolo Maldini, and Lev Yashin.
These players became icons not because they joined the biggest clubs, but because they built their legacy at one.
If he moves to Madrid, Alexander-Arnold will undoubtedly be part of a winning team.
But at Liverpool, there’s an opportunity for him to become not just part of something great but a central figure and a living legend.
At Anfield, should he sign a new deal, he could cement himself as one of the greatest players ever to wear the Reds shirt.
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