What decision Trent Alexander-Arnold makes in coming weeks about his future will, for many, determine how he will be remembered in his home city for years to come.. Photos by Reuters
The proposed transfer of Trent Alexander-Arnold from Liverpool to Real Madrid has divided opinion on whether a local hero can abscond to a different part of the country without an indelible blot on his copybook.
Having joined the Reds when he was just six-years-old, Alexander-Arnold has since gone on to win a clean sweep of the Premier League, Champions League, FA Cup, League Cup, UEFA Super Cup and Club World Cup.
His new status is encapsulated in a mural a few metres from the club’s Anfield stadium that serves as tribute to the latest Royal Blue boy and features the words: “I’m just a normal lad from Liverpool whose dream has just come true.”
But the legacy he’ll leave behind in his home city for years to come will for many depend on the decision he takes in the coming weeks about his future.
Alexander-Arnold is out of contract at the end of the season so Madrid pay no transfer fee for a player who blasted Premier League records when it comes to creative output from a right-back.
Here, AFP Sport examines the key factors facing the 26-year-old before a career-defining call.
Madrid’s compelling case
Liverpool enjoy lorded over their Premier League rivals their six European Cups as by a distance the most successful English club in the competition’s history.
With 15 victories in the European Cup or Champions League — six of them in the past 11 seasons — Madrid resides in a class all its own.
Aside from the lifestyle advantages of a move to the Spanish sunshine, Alexander-Arnold would be playing alongside Aleksander-Arnold’s close buddy and England colleague Jude Bellingham each week, alongside castmates including Kylian Mbappe and Vinicius Junior.
The drama of the state-of-the-art, newly refurbished Santiago Bernabeu could also provide Alexander-Arnold the opportunity to realise his dream of being the first full-back to win the Ballon d’Or.
“I can (win it),” Alexander-Arnold told Sky Sports earlier this season. “It’s only the very next morning after you retire that you can look in the mirror and say, ‘I gave it everything I got.
“No amount of trophies you win, or medals you’ve got, matters. “You are giving something to the game and it matters whether you fulfill your potential.”
By running down his contract, Alexander-Arnold would be in a strong position to rake in millions from a signing-on bonus, rather than Madrid paying an eye-watering transfer fee.
And he can reason that there is little left to achieve by remaining at Anfield.
Liverpool are 12 points clear at the summit of the Premier League so should Alexander-Arnold’s current deal expire with them on top of each other, he will be a two-time English champion to be added to half a dozen other major trophies.
“I hope his legacy is that of a great, great homegrown footballer who has done really, really well for this club,” Steve McManaman, who himself swapped Liverpool for Real Madrid a free transfer in 1999, told the BBC.
Follow Gerrard’s lead?
McManaman won two Champions Leagues and two La Ligas during four years in the Spanish capital and yet he is being wheeled out as the counter argument to Alexander-Arnold being persuaded to remain.
“It’s about his legacy at Liverpool and what people think about him. Do you want to be talked about like (Steven) Gerrard or McManaman? Former one-club legend Jamie Carragher — a one-club legend himself, of course, as a Liverpool defender — said of Alexander-Arnold’s choice.
“He (McManaman) went to Real Madrid and won cups but he is not adored. If he remains, he will go down as one of the best to represent the club and his tally won’t be far off Gerrard.”
Alexander-Arnold is already the club’s vice-captain, and would be the obvious successor to Virgil van Dijk.
Unlike the days of Gerrard, McManaman and Michael Owen, who traded in Liverpool for Madrid in 2004, he is on a team that regularly competes at the top of the Premier League and Champions League.
If he stays, Alexander-Arnold could find himself front and centre of trophy lifts for future seasons as a local lad turned legend.
But Liverpool is just the latest club for whom the lure of Madrid proved impossible to resist.