Liverpool’s Management woes and Real’s seduction: The backstory behind Trent Alexander Arnold’s exit

The controversy over Trent Alexander Arnold’s impending transfer to Real Madrid has been one that has loomed for a long while now.  Today let’s take a deep dive into how this transfer ended up materializing and Liverpool found themselves in a position to lose their homegrown star-boy for absolutely nothing. 

In June of 2021, Liverpool announced that the Scouser had signed a multi-year contract until 2025. With the Right Back only 21 at that point in time there were already questions around why the deal would only span a duration of 4 years, something that was left unanswered then; But given the events that have unfolded in the present, one could argue that the England International always had an exit at the back of his mind  

Liverpool FC found themselves going into the 24/25 season with three of their superstars in the form of Mohammed Salah, Virgil Van Dijk and Trent Alexander Arnold all having contracts expiring at the end of the season. The club ended up in this position following a bunch of uncertainty within the management of the club, with Sporting Director Micheal Edwards departing in 2021 and his successor Julian Ward departing the club the following season. The club spent majority of 2023 without a Sporting Director at it’s helm with then Manager Jurgen Klopp and Assistant Manager Pep Lijnders covering the gap left behind by Edwards and Ward. 

It would not be until a week before the 2023 transfer window when German Director Jorg Schmadtke was brought in as a temporary solution to handle the summer transfer window. However, Schmadtke’s focus would lie on the incomings of Dominik Szoboszlai, Alex Mac Allister, Ryan Gravenberch and Wataru Endo. This was followed by the announcement of Jurgen Klopp stepping down at the end of the in January of 2024. 

This had meant that for more than a whole year the club had not paid attention to the running down contracts of its players, leaving the incoming management in a difficult position on the negotiation table. It would be in May of 2024 when former Sporting Director Micheal Edwards would return in capacity as CEO of Football for FSG (covering Liverpool FC and other Football Clubs in FSG’s ownership.). This was followed by multiple other management changes within the hierarchy of FSG’s football division (including returns of former names associated with LFC; such as Julian Ward and Will Spearman) and the appointment of Richard Hughes as the clubs Sporting Director. 

Richard Hughes

The situation would leave question marks over the three superstars’ future at the club; and with just a year left on their contract, they were free to negotiate with other clubs. Trent Alexander Arnold seemed to immediately have his head turned by the opportunity of becoming a Galactico with Spanish media outlet Marca reporting that the right back informed Madrid of his desire to play for them as early as January, 2024 when Madrid made initial contact with the player. Since that point rumours swirled around in the media with the Liverpool Vice – Captain insistent that talks over his future would not play out publicly in the media and that he was in talks with the club over an extension. 

The “negotiations” seemed to have an continued impasse through this season before news eventually broke at the start of the week that the Liverpool born and bred Academy graduate would leave the club on a free transfer.  The player is said to have rejected multiple offers of a higher salary (325,000 GBP) and a longer contract with the chance to eventually succeed Van Dijk as Captain in the coming years for a relatively shorter and lower paying (225,000 EUR) to play for the Los Blancos. 

Reputed journalists like Fabrizio Romano, David Ornstein and Paul Joyce have all confirmed that the final steps are underway for the player’s transfer to Real Madrid, a solid blow to Liverpool in the midst of their title run – in. Orstein would be the first to break the news that Madrid were close to signing Liverpool’s right back on a free, followed by others of the media world. 

The biggest bombshell out of all the news breaking would be from Marca’s previously mentioned report about the Scouser agreeing a transfer with Madrid as early as 2024, meaning he’d purposely seen his contract out, rejecting LFC’s offers, ensuring he departs at a cost of 0 GBP to Real Madrid.  On Wednesday, Romano would confirm that documents were being exchanged between Madrid and Alexander Arnold for signing the deal, and stated that the deal was barely a step away from receiving his trademark “Here We Go”. 

While we are yet to receive an official confirmation from either of the clubs or the player over the impending departure and subsequent arrival in Madrid, it seems all but likely that Liverpool FC and their fans will be left licking their wounds caused by the departure of their City born, Academy bred right back, with young Irishman Connor Bradley left to fill in Trent Alexander Arnold’s shoes. 

By : Erishe Solai