Liverpool supporters have been celebrating their Premier League title win ferociously over the past week but were brought back down to earth on Monday.
It has been a superb week for Reds supporters, with defeat at Chelsea on Sunday doing little to dampen the party mood.
However, on Bank Holiday Monday, things took a sour turn as Trent Alexander-Arnold officially confirmed he will depart at the end of the season.
Alexander-Arnold’s exit has been in the works for months now, but Liverpool fans were able to cling onto the slim hope that a U-turn may be in the offing.
In the end, it never was. Alexander-Arnold will leave after 20 years of association with Liverpool.
All that’s left to do is to rubber-stamp the terms of his exit. Real Madrid will clearly be Alexander-Arnold’s destination, but Los Blancos are now trying to determine whether they’ll sign the Scouser in June or July.
Liverpool demanding Trent Alexander-Arnold compensation
Liverpool supporters are feeling almost universally aggrieved at the manner in which Alexander-Arnold has forced an exit to join Real Madrid.
Although they are not a domestic rival, the Spanish giants have regularly beaten Liverpool in the Champions League over the years and further match-ups in the seasons to come should be expected.
Before all of that, though, Real are preparing to play in the revamped FIFA Club World Cup this June and are reportedly hoping to sign Alexander-Arnold to feature in it.
Reports have previously claimed Liverpool will asked Alexander-Arnold to waive his wages to make that happen, while also demanding a fee from Real. And according to journalist Ben Jacobs, that remains the case.
“As it stands, LFC haven’t released Trent Alexander-Arnold early from his contract,” Jacobs writes on X.
“Real want him in time for the CWC, but this requires paying compensation to get TAA a month early. Real prepared to offer over £500k, but LFC sources maintain more will be required.”
Alexander-Arnold contract set to start from July
With the Club World Cup starting on June 14th and Alexander-Arnold contracted at Liverpool until the 30th, you can see the issue here.
According to The Athletic, however, the right-back’s six year contract at Real Madrid is set to start from July 2025.
That would mean Alexander-Arnold would be unavailable for the early games of the Club World Cup.
The tournament does run until July 13th, though, so in theory Alexander-Arnold would be free to be registered for the latter stages.
It remains to be seen whether Real will push to get the No.66 onboard before then, in which case Liverpool will be due a small windfall from his departure.
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