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4 hours ago
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Trent Alexander-Arnold has confirmed he is leaving Liverpool when his contract expires at the end of the season.
The 26-year-old is set to join Real Madrid as a free agent after Liverpool were unable to convince the homegrown talent to extend his highly successful career at Anfield. Liverpool are understood to have offered Alexander-Arnold a new contract that would have made him the best paid full-back in the Premier League and one of the highest paid full-backs in the world.
Formal negotiations with the player’s representatives opened once Arne Slot was confirmed as Jürgen Klopp’s successor last year, although Richard Hughes first made contact before officially starting as Liverpool’s new sporting director. Liverpool were unable to secure Alexander-Arnold on a new deal, however, unlike Virgil van Dijk and Mohamed Salah, and the player informed Slot of his decision to leave a few weeks ago.
“After 20 years at Liverpool Football Club, now is the time for me to confirm that I will be leaving at the end of the season,” Alexander-Arnold announced on his social media channels this morning. “This is easily the hardest decision I’ve ever made in my life. I know many of you have wondered why or been frustrated that I haven’t spoken about this yet, but it was always my intention to keep my full focus on the team’s best interests, which was securing number 20.
“This club has been my whole life – my whole world - for 20 years. From the academy right through until now, the support and love I have felt from everyone inside and outside of the club will stay with me forever. I will forever be in debt to you all. But, I have never known anything else and this decision is about experiencing a new challenge, taking myself out of my comfort zone and pushing myself both professionally and personally.
“I’ve given my all every single day I’ve been at this club, and I hope you feel like I’ve given back to you during my time here. From the bottom of my heart, I thank everybody – my coaches, my managers, my teammates, the staff and our incredible supporters - for the last 20 years. I’ve been blessed enough to live out my dreams here and I will never, ever take for granted the special moments I’ve been fortunate enough to have lived through with you all. My love for this club will never die.”
Alexander-Arnold joined Liverpool’s youth ranks at the age of six and made his first-team debut in a League Cup tie against Tottenham in October 2016, 18 days after his 18th birthday. He has gone onto to make 352 appearances for his boyhood club, scoring 23 goals and winning eight major honours, including the Champions League and two Premier League titles.
Alexander-Arnold has long been linked with a move to Madrid and the sense that he was destined to join the Spanish giants only strengthened after they made a £20m bid for the player on New Year’s Eve that was immediately rejected by Liverpool.
