Trent Alexander-Arnold is already a Liverpool legend and one of the best creative players in the world... it's a crying shame English football has never fully appreciated him, writes OLIVER HOLT
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And so the fight for Trent Alexander-Arnold has started in earnest. As the first day of the New Year approaches, with the prospect of one of the best players in the game about to be able to sign a pre-contract agreement with a foreign club, it was always going to be that way.
![[Despite his ability, Alexander-Arnold may be more appreciated if he moves to Spain]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/12/28/21/93546183-0-image-a-109_1735420256652.jpg)
It is a culture war and a propaganda war. It is a battle to avoid blame. It is a struggle to preserve allegiances and restate tribal loyalties while also exercising the right to freedom of movement and the embrace of a new challenge. That is often the way of the modern transfer saga.
![[A superb passer, Alexander-Arnold should be a key player for England for the next ten years]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/12/28/21/93546229-0-image-a-110_1735420378486.jpg)
Whatever may have been going on behind the scenes, as Alexander-Arnold’s contract ticks down towards its conclusion at Liverpool, it is his suitors at Real Madrid that have broken cover and fired the first salvo. The front page in the Spanish sports daily, Marca, yesterday morning that claimed Alexander- Arnold, 26, had told Liverpool he wanted to leave for the Bernabeu next summer needs to be treated with a healthy degree of cynicism.
![[The Liverpool player would be the perfect replacement for Dani Carvajal at Real Madrid]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/12/28/21/93546269-0-image-m-112_1735420577325.jpg)
Marca is widely seen as a mouthpiece for Real Madrid and a tool for the club in its transfer negotiations. Its claims were met with denials that Alexander- Arnold had told Liverpool any such thing. But the story was an indication, at least, that Madrid’s long- rumoured interest in Liverpool’s lavishly talented right back is real and that the Premier League leaders will have to fight fiercely to keep hold of him.
![[There has been more focus on Alexander-Arnold's supposed defensive vulnerabilities than his qualities]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/12/28/21/93546317-0-image-a-113_1735420696132.jpg)
