Steve McManaman is hopeful that Liverpool will hold onto one player in particular over the summer, but he wouldn’t ‘begrudge’ him an exit from Anfield if it were to materialise.
Reds fans continue to live on their nerves as to whether or not Mo Salah, Virgil van Dijk and Trent Alexander-Arnold will sign new contracts, with all three set to depart as free agents in three months’ time as things stand.
The England right-back has been a long-time target for Real Madrid, and James Pearce recently indicated that the Champions League holders are ‘very confident’ of bringing him to the Bernabeu later this year.
McManaman empathises with Trent ove transfer dilemma
McManaman left Liverpool for the Spanish capital in 1999 on a free transfer, and although the Reds were nowhere near the same force back then that they are now, our former winger has said that he’d understand if Trent wanted to take his chance to sign for Los Blancos.
The 53-year-old told The Athletic: “I hope Trent, Virgil and Mo all stay. I don’t know what Trent wants to do but I certainly wouldn’t begrudge him if he does decide he wants to leave.
“If he feels as if he wants to experience a new lifestyle, new language, new culture, I’d have no qualms at all. It would be a huge miss for Liverpool but if he wants to do it, I’d completely respect him and be very proud because he’s a local lad who has done incredibly well, which is what I love more than anything.
“Real Madrid are a bigger, more professional, well-run machine now than when I joined. They have the new stadium, and some of the best players in the world. Of course Jude Bellingham is there, who is close to Trent. He’s won every trophy manageable with Liverpool.”
Trent will soon have a massive decision to make
As a Scouser who left Liverpool on a free transfer to Real Madrid 26 years ago, McManaman is better placed than anyone to empathise with the potentially career-defining decision with which Trent is now wrestling.
The right-back might feel that this is his one chance to sign for the most successful club in European football, one which has dominated the Champions League in recent years by winning the trophy six times since 2014.
With the Reds intending to offer a contract extension to Conor Bradley, they appear to be not just rewarding the 21-year-old for his excellent performances but also preparing for the possibility of their vice-captain leaving in the near future.
However, whereas Liverpool were in the doldrums when McManaman left in 1999, they’re now on course to win the Premier League in the next couple of months and are viable contenders to dethrone Real Madrid as champions of Europe.
Whether the possibility of further major silverware at his boyhood club will be enough to persuade Trent to stay is the big unknown, but hopefully he and the LFC hierarchy can strike an agreement in the coming weeks which’ll result in him staying put rather than flocking to the Bernabeu.
