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.
I’d like to think we’re above all that too Karl, but these days I doubt it.
Except Coutinho fetched us 100M which we used to build a mini-dynasty with Alisson and Van Dijk. Minor difference there, Karl.
There is a darker side to the Trent move than there was for a lot of others.
1/ He is a local and a boyhood red
2/ Liverpool have just won the league and are well placed to be competitive moving forward
3/ He knew that the only way to make this move happen was to shaft the club he apparently loves
He is lower than Sterling, Coutinho, Torres, Suarez et al as far as I am concerned.
He may have given the club 20 years’ service, but he has been developed, supported and well rewarded for that service.
A salary of just shy of 10 mil a year isn’t too bad a reward for playing for the club you ‘love’.
He has made the decision to deny the club 100m in order to get this move. Having made that decision he now has to be big enough to take the stick that comes his way.
In any profession, there is a good way to leave and a bad way. Trent has chosen the latter and it leaves a very bitter taste in the mouth. He knows full well how damaging the loss of a potential 100m transfer fee is to Liverpool but he doesn’t care about that.
We don’t want this development to distract from the title celebrations, so ignoring him is probably the best option but I wouldn’t argue with anyone who decides that they want to let him know how they feel over this and Trent needs to take that on the chin.
As for the video – don’t bother watching it Karl. I am sure that you will have seen some of his previous vids. Such as when he spoke of his dream to play for Liverpool for years to come and to captain the team. Or when he said if he was to pick a 2nd team it would be Barca.
The fella clearly speaks with ‘forked tongue’, so don’t waste your time listening to him.
No point in getting upset. It’s obvious to me that the lad has got a a huge ego and sees himself as destined for something greater. Personally, I think he’s a bit deluded, poorly advised, naive and dare I say it – a bit thick. If he loved the club and the city anywhere near as much as he loved himself then he wouldn’t give up the chance of captaining the club and winning more titles – to help a club we consider a rival. The money side doesn’t bother me – it’s not our money and FSG would be quick enough to shaft him if the tables were turned. All is fair in love and war and he honoured his contract. Good luck lad – you’re going to need a lot of in order to emulate King Kev and win Ballon D’ors – right backs don’t tend to win em lad! My feeling is that your career will go in the same direction as little Phil’s (and it’s fair to say that he shook the Kop a lot more often than you did) Shame – they would have built you a statue.