After it was finally confirmed that Trent Alexander-Arnold will leave Liverpool at the end of the season, the next steps became clearer…
WELL, that’s that.
Following a season of will he/won’t he discussions and debates, Trent Alexander-Arnold is off to Spain once his contract expires.
Come the end it was hardly a surprise and in the Three Contract Saga of 2025, Liverpool beat Real Madrid 2-1.
I haven’t seen his video and I’m in no rush to. I don’t see the point of him telling the world how much he loves us while he packs a suitcase off-camera. Akin to standing at the altar, declaring undying affection for an ex while a priest waits impatiently to get on with the wedding service.
Overall though, I’m fine with it. He’s won everything for us and he wants to try somewhere else. He has that right.
I suppose people take news in different ways. Some feel let down, some feel grateful for the good times while others shrug their shoulders. All reactions are valid and there isn’t one solid truth.
This is all just experience.
I was eight years old when Kevin Keegan threw away his Anfield career and ran off to the glamour of Hamburg. He walked through the door with a fresh league title and a European Cup in his pocket, along with my broken heart.
It was hard to take and even at that tender age I wondered if it were wise to invest so much time in someone I’d never met. Keegan was a God to me in 1977 and there was no way I was anywhere near the same plane as him, so what did my feelings matter? He could ruin my life without knowing I existed so what was the point in unrequited love?
Then came Kenny and that was the end of such faux maturity.
Trent will be the first pained departure for younger Reds and, though it’s an important and usually depressing time, it’s just the first in a series of disappointments on the road to the realisation that expectations and ambitions change and that players have their own lives to shape without your influence or input.
I was 42 when Fernando Torres left for Chelsea and, suffice to say, my reaction proved that I hadn’t learned a thing since my Keegan/Luke Skywalker days. Very different men, all told.
Naturally, I forgave both Keegan and Torres and moved onto Han Solo when The Empire Strikes Back came out. It’s a better film and Han got Leia while Luke got Yoda. I’d been wasting my time with the blonde lad.
So I’m taking Trent’s Madrid move as insouciantly as possible. It’s a shame but it’s his life and, though he could have at least given us a few tens of millions to replace him, I’m sure we’ll be OK. No hard feelings on my part. I bet he’s relieved at that.
If you’re going to go to the most odious club in the world, go with a league title, an ocean of memories and the knowledge that you’re going to be sneered at for a bit. That’s the price you pay. He’ll know that and seems fine with it.
There’ll be the odd boo and shout at him should he play any part of the next three games, but anyone burning a shirt can do one. That’s just performative nonsense and hopefully we’re all above that.
No hard feelings then, but I don’t want to see him play for us anymore. Give the time to Conor. Our loyalty is to him and it shouldn’t be our job to get Trent sharper for Madrid. Give a round of applause after the Palace game and we can all move on. Expect a vicious cacophony when you come back in a white shirt.
It’s the club health that’s the first consideration when a big name leaves. When Suarez went we knew we’d regress rather than progress. When Coutinho snuck away we were on the up so it ended up being comical. Now we’ve just won the league at a canter with a man playing someone else’s players so if there’s a good time to go, it’s now.
He was brilliant, rewrote the right-back role and won everything for The Reds. That should be celebrated, but the bottom line is that the club comes first.
Incidentally, I met Keegan outside Anfield 42 years later and got a selfie. He wasn’t the Titan I expected. He was just a human being laughing at another human being who kept selecting ‘video’ instead of ‘photo’ because he was nervous. Between us we worked it out.
I reckon the Champions will work it out too.
