Marauding down the right flanks on England’s and sometimes Europe’s pitches scoring goals, finding teammates with winding crosses and showing versatility, you might be forgiven for taking Trent Alexander-Arnold for Cristiano Ronaldo; well, at least, the younger version of Ronaldo in his first stint at Manchester United.
While he is nowhere close to Ronaldo’s speed, trickery and swag, Alexander-Arnold’s technique is at par with Ronaldo’s and for a full back who inverts into a midfielder with a dashing eye for defence splitting passes and goals, this mix has made the English defender one of the most sought after full backs in the world.
It is awkward to place Ronaldo and Alexander-Arnold in the same bracket or talk about them in the same sentence but beyond the aforementioned similarities, the players share a unique link involving Real Madrid and the English Premier League.
At the time of writing, Alexander-Arnold, is heavily linked with a move to Real Madrid from Liverpool with the player in the final months of his contract that concludes at season’s end. Though an official move is yet to happen for Alexander-Arnold but Ronaldo’s link to Real Madrid became reality when the Portuguese superstar left England for Spain after six seasons in England.
Having dropped a stinker against Manchester United, Alexander-Arnold’s contract situation created further tension in Liverpool’s camp with several reports stating that Virgil Van Dijk and the Englishman had to be separated in the dressing room.
The fallout from such rancor could be the watershed moment everyone points to should Liverpool miss out on what looks to be a winnable league title.
Performing poorly against the big enemy in a game that ended in a draw, has led many fans to believe that Alexander-Arnold has checked out and should be dropped till a solution is found.
An option that has been proposed is for Liverpool’s management and Alexander-Arnold’s camp to agree to a new deal with another option being an outright sale to Real Madrid before June. This is a thorny issue many have blamed Liverpool’s management for failing to sort out Trent’s contract but this situation goes beyond the club’s control and this is where the Cristiano Ronaldo link comes in.
Like Ronaldo, it is clear Real Madrid is Alexander-Arnold’s dream team and irrespective of the rich contract value or pampering from the club, the player has his eyes set on a move to Real. At Man United, Ronaldo had the world at his feet as the club and its fans backed him when he was maligned as a diva, whiner and one who dives for penalties.
On the pitch, Ronaldo became the focal point of Man United’s attacks and was consistently at the end of offensive moves at the expense of Wayne Rooney. In some instances, Ronaldo lined up as a forward while Rooney got shunted out to the left side as an inverted winger.
Off the pitch, Ronaldo was also well taken care of by the Red Devil’s management by having one of the richest contracts in the world but none of these mitigation measures was enough to stop Ronaldo from joining Real Madrid-his dream club.
Having come through the academy, Liverpool is Alexander-Arnold’s boyhood club and after winning the Champions League, EPL title, FA Cup, Carabao Cup, Community Shield and Club World Cup, the 26 year old has paid his dues to his boyhood club and looks to be inching closer to a move to his dream club with his window for a move fast closing.
Real Madrid need to invest in younger options at the right back position as Dani Carvajal and Lucas Vasquez are 32 and 33 years respectively and after spending serious money on bagging the best young attacking talents in the world, the time is up for Real Madrid to invest in other areas particularly this offseason.
Real Madrid missed out on signing Jurrien Timber and Ajax Amsterdam’s infamous academy has produced another top prospect in Devyne Rensch who is 21 years old. Bayer Leverkusen’s wing-back Jeremie Frimpong is another viable option Real Madrid would likely look into signing as a long term fixture for the next Real Madrid iteration under Madrid’s future head coach Xabi Alonso.
After playing a vital role in elevating Frimpong’s game that got Leverkusen to win its first ever Bundesliga title plus a German Cup and second place finish in the Europa League, Alonso is eyed as a long term replacement for Real Madrid boss Carlo Ancelotti.
It is safe to call the Liverpool defender Alexander-Arnold the best right full back in the world considering Jeremie Frimpong is still yet to command a regular starting place in the Dutch national team despite excelling with Bayer Leverkusen. The likes of Reece James and Dani Carvajal have been bitten by the injury bug over the past two seasons are aging fast in Carvajal’s case.
Joao Cancelo is in Saudi Arabia and Kieran Trippier has been supplanted by Tino Livramento at Newcastle United. That leaves Achraf Hakimi as the biggest threat to Alexander-Arnold’s worthiness as the best right full back in the world. However, fair or not, Trent gets the advantage over Hakimi as the latter competes in the lower ranked French Ligue 1 while the former competes in the best league in the world.
Thanks to well-planned transitions, Liverpool have moved on from Jurgen Klopp to Arne Slot without any drop off and have done same leaving Fabinho, Firmino, Mane, Joel Matip and Dejan Lovren behind and embracing Luis Diaz, Cody Gakpo, Ibrahima Konate, Darwin Nunez and Diogo Jota, Liverpool already have Alexander-Arnold’s replacement in place.
Conor Bradley has shown that he is a near perfect replacement for Trent and after overcoming a major injury to play in the draw against Man United as an 86th minute substitute, Bradley is all but certain to replace Trent in Liverpool’s starting lineup for The Reds’ Carabao Cup semifinal clash against Spurs.
Real Madrid under Florentino Perez pivoted from building a team filled with Galacticos of older players to a team filled with Galacticos of younger players. As such, missing out on the next immediate transfer windows could well mean Trent Alexander-Arnold misses out on his dream move to Real Madrid and the time to realize that dream move is now.
