Liverpool fans are hoping Trent Alexander-Arnold follows Steven Gerrard’s example by rejecting Real Madrid.
The 26-year-old England international could leave Anfield on a free transfer this summer when his current Anfield deal expires. These links are bringing back memories of the time Los Blancos were keen on signing Gerrard when Jose Mourinho was the manager.
Having failed to sign him at Chelsea and Inter Milan, Mourinho thought he could finally sway Gerrard to Real Madrid. To his immense disappointment, the Liverpool skipper rejected him for a third time and remained at Anfield.
While Alexander-Arnold’s career trajectory is similar to that of the legendary Liverpool captain, the context of both players is different. Unlike theright-back, Gerrard had unfinished business at Anfield.
In 2015, looking back on Mourinho’s desire to bring him to the Spanish capital, Gerrard said: “I’d have signed for him three times if I was not a Liverpool fan and Liverpool were not in my heart.
“He is the reason why my head was turned on a couple of occasions. But he understood why he could not do it. It’s because I love Liverpool Football Club.”
When asked whether he had ever pondered on his decisions, Gerrard replied: “I did at the time [wonder at what might have been]. But for me, I said to myself when I sat down with my dad and my brother, that if I win a couple of trophies at Liverpool, then it would mean an awful lot more to me than if I win 10 at Chelsea or Inter Milan or Real Madrid. It always means more when you win for your people.”
Despite winning the Champions League, the Europa League, two FA Cups, and three League Cups with Liverpool, the Premier League title was always out of Gerrard’s reach. When Mourinho came calling, Gerrard still had a burning desire to win their first league title since 1990.
Alexander-Arnold doesn’t have the same emotional anchor keeping him at Liverpool. He has won every possible trophy and is also on track to win a second Premier League title, while Arne Slot’s side also strong contenders to win the Champions League too after topping the new format with seven victories in eight matches.
When quizzed on the Liverpool star’s future earlier in January, Slot played it cool. However, he did reassure supporters that transfer gossip hadn’t distracted Alexander-Arnold – whose admission of wanting to win the Ballon d’Or above all else suggests the Santiago Bernabeu could soon be his home.
The Liverpool boss said: “If it would destabilise players at Liverpool if other people talk about them, then we would really have a problem because if you play at one of the biggest clubs in the world everybody is always – for 12 months long – talking about you, sometimes in relation to other clubs.
“That happens so many times for our players, so if that destabilises them, then we really would have had a problem. Not only now but in the last six months, because there were some talks about our players in the last six months and I don’t think it destabilised them at all.”
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