It looks for all the world as thought Trent Alexander-Arnold will leave Liverpool for Real Madrid in the coming weeks, but one journalist believes that the 26-year-old’s career ambitions may be best served at his current club rather than in the Spanish capital.
The Reds’ vice-captain came off the bench to score his team’s winning goal against Leicester on Sunday, but when he was quizzed about his future after the match, he gave nothing away as to his line of thinking.
With Arne Slot’s side now just one win away from becoming Premier League champions, Mark Ogden has posed the question as to whether the England international should consider snubbing an uncertain situation at the Bernabeu in favour of continuing at the upwardly mobile LFC.
Ogden implores Trent to reconsider impending Madrid move
Speaking about Trent to ESPN FC, the journalist said: “My view is that he’s made the decision and he’s going to go. He’s had enough opportunities to say ‘I want to stay’, but even after the goal at Leicester, I think he ducked the quesion in terms of what’s happening. He was very diplomatic.
“Liverpool are on the up right now. They’re going to win the Premier League. They’re back in the Champions League next season. They’re a club that’s very stable and well-run.
“Trent keeps saying he wants to win trophies. Where are you best placed right now to win trophies? Real Madrid always win trophies, but I think Arsenal exposed a lot of their weaknesses in the Champions League quarter-final last week.”
Ogden added: “If I was Trent, I’d really think about it. It might be a lifestyle choice. He might want to experience playing for Real Madrid – who wouldn’t – but I think right now, if he still has a decision to make, I’d be thinking about staying at Liverpool.”
Could Trent be about to make a huge mistake?
While no club can even come close to matching Real Madrid’s record in terms of European success, the journalist makes a fair point about Liverpool perhaps being better placed to win trophies in the short-term than Los Blancos.
Unlike the Reds, the Bernabeu outfit are up against it to win their domestic league this season, and they’re also facing into a period of uncertainty with Carlo Ancelotti set to depart, leaving his successor with an incredibly hard act to follow.
Plenty of hugely talented players have gone to Madrid and had their reputations blemished in one of the most unforgiving environments in world football, whereas Trent knows the lie of the land on Merseyside and already has the trust of Slot and his teammates.
Whether that’d be enough to dissuade him from leaving his boyhood club for the Spanish capital is doubtful, but Ogden is right to point out that the grass mightn’t necessarily be greener elsewhere.
The opportunity to try his luck at the Bernabeu might well be enormously difficult for the 26-year-old to turn down, but we just hope he knows what he could be chucking away if he walks out on Liverpool on a free transfer.
