Liverpool academy product Trent Alexander-Arnold has entered the last year of his contract at Anfield, and former Reds midfielder Graeme Souness thinks he spotted a hint in the saga.
The once-moustachioed Scot turned out 358 times for the Merseyside club, before presiding over a less successful stint as manager. Nevertheless, he knows how things work in that part of town.
Alexander-Arnold has become part of the furniture at Liverpool, breaking out of the youth setup as a teenager and never looking back. Reds lovingly refer to him as ‘the Scouser in our team’ in their chants, but that chapter could soon be closing with his 2021 renewal expiring next summer.
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Souness believes he saw the direction of travel in a decision made by new boss Arne Slot in his side’s resounding 3-0 win over Manchester United at Old Trafford.
Three goals to the good with 76 minutes on the clock at the Theatre of Dreams, the Dutch coach decided to withdraw the right-back, along with Diogo Jota, and introduce Conor Bradley and Darwin Nunez in their place.
“I don’t see any obvious reason to take Trent off against Manchester United, other than they know he’s leaving,” Souness said, speaking on William Hill’s podcast, Three Up Front.
“They’d still want to keep him on side for the rest of the season and he’ll go for free at the end of it. The message that he’s made up his mind may already have been relayed to the higher-ups at the club.”
At this juncture, Slot might interject and suggest with less than 15 minutes of regular time left to go – and the game all but won – he was reducing the risk on one of his key starters, for whom he has no obvious replacement, just as he did less than 10 minutes later on the other flank with Andy Robertson. But it’s clear Souness doesn’t buy that version of events, and suggests that Alexander-Arnold already has his next destination in mind.
“He’s running his contract down,” the former manager said. “If you’re going to leave Liverpool, where else other than Real Madrid can you really go to better yourself?”
The point Souness makes is not without merit, and Liverpool fans won’t have been soothed by the amount of time the right-back spent with Los Blancos and fellow England star Jude Bellingham over the summer.
Agent Jude no doubt waxed lyrical about his time in Madrid as the pair headed out to Los Angeles together following the end of Euro 2024, and it won’t have escaped attention that Trent’s Madrid counterpart Dani Carvajal is set to see his deal at the Bernabeu expire next summer.
Contract headaches don’t end there for the Merseyside club, as Mohamed Salah dropped much less subtle hints that it could be his last year following the game against Erik ten Hag’s side, and Virgil van Dijk is also in the final year of his terms. There’s work to be done at Anfield, then, but Souness fears the ship may already have set sail in Alexander-Arnold’s case.
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