Eighteen months ago, Trent Alexander-Arnold’s move from Liverpool to Real Madrid felt like one of modern football’s great power plays. A homegrown academy graduate, two Premier League titles and a Champions League winner’s medal to his name, walking straight into the biggest dressing room in the world on a six year contract. These days he is Real Madrid’s third choice right back, a bit part player in somebody else’s rebuild, and the subject of a transfer conversation that both of his clubs insist, for now, isn’t actually happening.
Under Jose Mourinho, Alexander-Arnold has slipped behind Federico Valverde, a converted midfielder, and the summer signing Denzel Dumfries in the right back pecking order at the Bernabeu. He is not frozen out completely. He started Real’s 3-0 win at Racing Santander last month and was praised afterwards by Mourinho himself. But the trend is obvious enough that it has become one of the most talked about situations involving any player with Premier League connections this autumn, even though he has not kicked a ball in England since leaving Anfield.
Fabrizio Romano moved to calm the speculation this week, saying Liverpool have never opened what he called a serious or concrete conversation with Real Madrid or with the player about a return, and that both club and player intend to see out the season together before any decision is made. A report from the Spanish outlet Cadena SER claiming Liverpool had made an informal enquiry about a January loan remains unconfirmed and disputed. For now, at least publicly, nobody with actual authority over the situation is saying very much at all.
Why Liverpool supporters keep dreaming
The appeal of the idea, from a Liverpool perspective, is not hard to understand. Since Alexander-Arnold left for Madrid, the right side of Liverpool’s defence has been one of the few parts of Andoni Iraola’s rebuilt squad that has not settled. Jeremie Frimpong, signed from Bayer Leverkusen as his long term successor, has struggled to hit the heights that made him such an exciting addition. Conor Bradley, once talked about as the long term answer in that position, has been held back by a run of injuries that has stopped him ever nailing down the shirt. Iraola has at times turned to Ronald Araujo there instead, despite the Uruguayan being a natural centre back on loan from Barcelona.
None of that is a crisis. Liverpool have found other ways to win games this season. But it is exactly the sort of unresolved problem that makes a familiar face, even one who left on slightly sour terms with a section of the Anfield crowd, look more appealing with every passing month. Alexander-Arnold’s old full back partnerships, his delivery from deep and his sixty seven Premier League assists in a Liverpool shirt are not easily replaced by committee.
The pundits who will not let it go
That appeal explains why so many well known voices keep bringing the idea back up, even without a single club official endorsing it. Jamie Carragher used his platform on The Overlap to say he would take Alexander-Arnold back at Liverpool, despite believing the move to Spain was a mistake in the first place. He said he would have him back and “give him plenty of stick” for leaving, while also arguing that Liverpool have clearly missed his creativity from deep since he left.
Sam Allardyce made a similar case on his own podcast, describing a twenty eight year old Alexander-Arnold as being at his peak and arguing that his passing range outweighs the defensive criticism that has followed him for most of his career. Reports elsewhere, including from TeamTalk, have gone further still, suggesting Arsenal, Manchester City and Chelsea have also run the numbers on a possible move, although none of that has been confirmed by any of the clubs involved and should be read as speculation rather than established fact.
What those pundits and reports share is a sense that Real Madrid’s patience, and Alexander-Arnold’s own, might not stretch indefinitely if he continues to be picked behind two other players for a position he once made his own in English football.
What actually happens next
The honest answer, based on everything reported so far, is that very little is close to being decided. Alexander-Arnold signed a six year contract when he joined Real Madrid, so there is no pressing financial reason for either side to force a move in January rather than waiting until the summer. Romano’s reporting suggests the player himself is not currently agitating for an exit, and that Real Madrid, for all of Mourinho’s selection choices, have not made any decision to sell him either.
That leaves the situation exactly where it has sat for weeks: a genuinely interesting subplot, fuelled by pundits with strong opinions and reporters chasing the next update, but without the one thing that would turn it into real news. Nobody at Liverpool, Real Madrid or any of the other clubs linked has put anything concrete on the table. If Alexander-Arnold’s role at the Bernabeu does not improve over the coming months, the conversation will only get louder heading into January. For now, it remains exactly that: a conversation, not a negotiation.
What would change things quickly is injury or suspension to either Valverde or Dumfries, or a dip in form serious enough for Mourinho to reconsider his pecking order. Equally, a sustained run of results for Liverpool without having solved their right back puzzle would keep the idea alive at Anfield regardless of what is actually happening in Madrid. Football being what it is, somebody somewhere will have a fresh update within days. Whether it amounts to anything is, as it has been for months now, a different question entirely.
If sagas like this one are your idea of a good time, follow It Was Always… Football for more of the stories behind the headlines.