‘Liverpool to rinse Real Madrid with £5m Alexander-Arnold demand’
Trent Alexander-Arnold is expected to join Real Madrid after announcing his departure from Liverpool, but the move could come at an extra cost for the Spanish giants.
The full-back has been at the newly crowned Premier League champions since the age of six and made his senior debut for the Reds back in 2016.
However, in a video released on Monday (5 May), Alexander-Arnold confirmed that he would leave Liverpool at the end of this season.
The announcement has led to widespread anger among Liverpool fans, who feel that the academy graduate has betrayed his boyhood club.
Like Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk, the 26-year-old was out of contract this summer, but unlike his superstar team-mates he hasn’t signed a new deal and is opting to move on instead.
Early Alexander-Arnold transfer will cost Real Madrid
Alexander-Arnold can join Real Madrid as soon as his contract expires at the end of June, but the Spanish club are competing in the revamped Club World Cup, which gets underway in the middle of next month.
Los Blancos want to secure the services of the right-back before the competition starts and are reportedly prepared to pay Liverpool a fee of £500,000 to do so [BBC Sport].
However, talkSPORT (6 May) host Simon Jordan believes that the Merseyside club should force Madrid to pay a higher fee, saying live on air that Liverpool should ask for “£5million quid”.
Jordan added that Liverpool should get: “As much money as they can rinse out of them (Real Madrid).
“It’s not Liverpool’s job to enhance Real Madrid’s opportunity, what is £500,000 going to do?”
Real Madrid eager to see Alexander-Arnold in white
Football Insider Verdict
The fact Real Madrid are willing to pay a fee to secure early access to Alexander-Arnold shows how excited they are to see him linking up with the likes of Kylian Mbappe and Jude Bellingham.
However, it’s hard to believe that a negotiator as fierce as Florentino Perez would fork out such a huge sum mere weeks before he can link up with Madrid for free.
| Opponent | Date |
| Al Hilal | 18th June |
| Pachuca | 22nd June |
| Salzburg | 27th June |
Former England striker Gary Lineker said that Alexander Arnold will love moving to Real Madrid, noting his experiences from his time at Barcelona.
If he performs on the pitch the full-back will be adored, but if he starts slowly it could become toxic very quickly as Madrid fans often hold their players to incredibly high standards.
It will be exciting to see Bellingham and Alexander-Arnold teaming up in Spain, and England fans will hope that the connection they build in Madrid will transfer over to the national team.