Liverpool FC Premier League Champions 24/25 - Talk /Gossip/Rumours

He was offered a new contract at the end of last season and he turned it down. From reading the reports it was made clear to Richard Hughes that the player wanted a new challenge and that's something the club couldn't offer him. If the club wanted to cash in that was their opportunity to do so.

Been a great player for the club. Legacy is undoubtably severely tarnished now though. You can't engineer running down your contract at the behest of Madrid to leave the club on a free and expect otherwise.

Are people bitter that he is leaving for free or that he is choosing to play for Madrid over us? Tell me how Trent should have played this if he wants to play for Madrid? They have a history of signing out of contract players, if he had of signed a new contract and they had to pay 100M for him it would likely never have happened. We got him for free, he leaves for free, what does he owe us?

No problem with Trent, and he has looked like a bloke that wanted out for awhile.

The idea of a refreshened Trent in a team that will play him where they see fit is an interesting prospect.

240k sterling a week and a significant 7 figure signing on fee being reported.

Bit vague tbh.

I don't really understand any controversy around how fans will react to this.

He's entitled to do what he wants. It's his career. And he only has one.

But engineering your contracts in order to make sure you can leave whenever you want, to Madrid, is something you can't do and expect love in return. Plenty of players have given their club another year to make sure the club benefit from a sale . Plus, he's Scouse. He's a fan. If he's 'living his dream' it makes no sense that he'd want to leave. By definition, he's not living his dream then. Living his dream is to fulfill his personal goals. And that's fine. But call it what it is. And fans don't have to respect that.

He's made his bed. He's a big boy. He can lie in it.

Trent leaves on the back of two average seasons, where he was exposed again and again defensively, and where the assists have dried up like a drop of water on a scorching day.

I'm okay with him leaving, as we're not missing much going by last two seasons. We're talking about a player, who has to be dragged off the pitch to be replaced by a kid, as to save face due to his defending.

I like Trent, but they are the facts. You'd have to worry about him at Real, not sure they'll tolerate him the way the Liverpool fans do. He's not a local boy to them, he's just another player, who will get slaughtered when he costs them big, and he will, that we know.

I expect within next 16 months we'll have another Coutinho situation , he'll be passed club to club until there is no one that wants him. Sad, he had it good at Liverpool.

I don't buy any notion that we won't miss him.

His playmaking from deep is a ridiculous weapon, and quite unique. That ball he used to drop in front of Salah to run onto is something defences now don't have to worry about, which means the opponent's press can be more committed, in theory.

7 assists this season from 20 odd games is nothing to sneeze at.

And it's not just Trent. Liverpool now need new left and right back and the same situation probably next year when Konaté leaves on a free so basically you need two CBs too.

It's also clear that he was told that Real wouldn't pay a fee for him.

So he made his decision.

If Real want him for Club World Cup, they'll have to cough up something Shirley. 1m -2m , and Trent will have to accept he won't be getting paid by Liverpool for the remainer of his contract .

It's fairly clear they wouldn't have been willing to pay the market price of was tied down for more than 6.months then.

After rejecting a 6 year contract that was offered to him by Liverpool back in the day.

Definitely had it co-ordinated with Klopp's departure except Klopp left a season too early.

it was always a shame after a couple of seasons Trent was not developed as a CAM and build the team around him from there which was his academy role.

He is a rubbish defender probably easily the culprit for as many goals conceded as he created. Liverpool were never going to shell out a package that could compete with Real considering a right back. Him going on a free is the sickner. I presume he gets 10-20 million signing on fee. It’s no wonder Madrids net spend is 146 million since 2012. They have the pulling power

He’s in the green with Real already anyway having a few assists for them.

The Athletic has a piece about his contract saga and while it is good, as usual, it does seem to contradict itself a little. As per the article Hughes's first call was to Trent's camp in April last year to initiate contract talks. When you consider as per their article on Salah the negotiations only really started after the season started you can see the priority was to sign Trent.

Some other interesting tidbits, while he was apparently still thinking about a contract and the last one was offered in March, Madrid already communicated among themselves that he was their man next season at that time.

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6326837/2025/05/05/trent-alexander-arnold-liverpool-exit-inside-story/

"

Trent Alexander-Arnold’s mind was made up and he wanted to tell Arne Slot face to face.

It was during the March international break when the Liverpool right-back, who was recovering from an ankle injury sustained against Paris Saint-Germain in the second leg of the Champions League last 16 tie, went to see the Dutchman in his office at the Kirkby training complex.

Alexander-Arnold informed Slot that he had decided to leave his boyhood club when his contract expired at the end of the season. He explained how he felt at this stage of his career that he needed to step out of his comfort zone and pursue a new challenge.

Slot expressed his disappointment but said he respected his vice-captain’s decision. “You’re a huge part of this team and let’s end it on a high together,” Slot told him.

Having been reassured that the head coach still wanted him to feature once he was fit as Liverpool closed in on Premier League title glory, Alexander-Arnold replied: “My mindset and commitment won’t change. I’ll continue to give everything for this club until the final day.”

It was around the same time in March that Alexander-Arnold’s representative formally notified Liverpool sporting director Richard Hughes that he wouldn’t be signing a new contract at Anfield.

..

In January, a source close to coach Carlo Ancelotti told The Athletic: “What I know is that without a right-back, it is impossible to win the Champions League.” Senior figures at Real Madrid thought with Liverpool so far ahead domestically and with an impressive deputy in Bradley, the Premier League leaders might be open to pocketing a fee rather than losing him for nothing in the summer. But they were mistaken and Madrid’s approach was instantly rejected.

With Liverpool steadfast in their desire to keep Alexander-Arnold for the rest of the season, Madrid’s focus shifted back to signing him as a free agent. They explained the sporting and economic project in detail and asked him not to renew his contract on Merseyside.

There was growing certainty in the Spanish capital that they would get their man, and by March, Ancelotti and other senior figures at the club’s Valdebebas training facility had been informed by the board that the deal was as good as done."

What gets me, the article talks about how upset Trent was when his loyalty was questioned, yet he was not that vocal like Salah or Van Dijk about wanting to stay. I think that is why so many fans are upset. There is a little gaslighting from his side on the chances of his signing a new deal when it seems like his team was in contact with Madrid for a while and they seem to have decided to leave a while ago.