Liverpool drew 2-2 with Manchester United in an entertaining contest at Anfield, though the attention was on Trent Alexander-Arnold for all the wrong reasons.
The England international endured a tough fixture against the Red Devils, with Roy Keane slamming Alexander-Arnold for his performance with Jamie Carragher suggesting that the defender will be hoping Real Madrid weren’t watching the match.
Los Blancos’ interest in the right-back has intensified since the opening of the January transfer window, with Madrid willing to pay as much as £20m to sign Alexander-Arnold this month, though Liverpool are in no position to sell one of their star players at this stage of the season.
And Gary Neville has said something about Madrid’s approach got to Alexander-Arnold yesterday against United.
Nevile says Real Madrid insulted Liverpool and Alexander-Arnold with rumoured bid
Speaking on Sky Sports after the match, the pundit noted how Madrid’s new interest in Alexander-Arnold came at a bad time for the defender, who against United looked lost whenever facing a rival player in what was a performance to forget.
Neville said: “The bid from Real Madrid is bad timing for him. I don’t know what’s going to happen with him, but certainly, if you’ve got that going into a big game, and you’re a local lad, that won’t be easy with the distractions.
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“Real Madrid are a hell of an animal. It was insulting from them, they behave like that and think they can get what they want. But Liverpool are a club of immense stature, they’re never going to sell Trent for £20m in January.
“You’re taking the mickey a bit. That will have probably unnerved him. You can imagine his agent, family and friends asking him how he’s doing, and that noise going on in his head before the game. That won’t have helped.”
Liverpool need to establish that Alexander-Arnold isn’t leaving this month
News of Madrid stepping up their interest in Alexander-Arnold could not have come at a worse time for Liverpool given the size of their tie with United, with the defender’s performance something that could have been attributed to new links to the Spanish giants.
Yet with Alexander-Arnold clearly not for sale this January, Liverpool need to establish this fact clearly with Madrid and the rest of the world that their star fullback is focused on the Reds and seeing out the season at Anfield.
Indeed, distractions in the market will do Alexander-Arnold no favours with the defender essential to Liverpool’s goal of winning the Premier League, and the Reds need to shut down transfer talks to get their right-back in the correct frame of mind.
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