Alexander-Arnold set to become the latest ‘Galactico’ after announcing Liverpool exit

Real Madrid’s long held reputation for poaching Europe’s biggest talents will continue to grow in 2025 following the announcement that Trent Alexander Arnold, a homegrown talent for Liverpool who has played for the club since age 6, will leave the Merseyside club as a free agent for Madrid this summer. Los Blancos have publicly courted the English right-back for a number of years now and with verbal agreement between the two parties confirmed, they seem to have finally got their man.

Trent joins a long list of Premier League stars to have been drawn to Spain in the prime of their careers

This announcement does not come as a huge surprise to Liverpool fans but it has been predictably unpopular, with Trent receiving boos from his own travelling fans during Liverpool’s recent away defeat at Chelsea on May 4th just before this news officially dropped. As the only ‘homegrown’ member of Liverpool’s starting XI which just won the club’s 20th league title, many fans had hoped Trent would be a lifelong servant to the club, following in the footsteps of greats such as Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher in spending the entire of his prime in Merseyside.

Despite this, Trent has now elected to join the star-studded lineup in Madrid, choosing to play alongside the likes of Kylian Mbappe, Vinicius Jr. and close friend Jude Bellingham as Real look to recover from a disappointing 2024/25 campaign in which they look to have fallen short in both La Liga and the Champions League. Trent joins a long list of Premier League stars to have been drawn to Spain in the prime of their careers, and will hope his career falls more in line with the likes of Luis Suarez and Luka Modric than Eden Hazard and Philippe Coutinho – the latter duo demonstrating that success in England is not always replicated in Spain. However, at least on paper, Trent seems well suited to a career in La Liga, with his profile as a player reliant on his great technical ability appearing to fit well with the free-flowing and often less physical nature of Spanish football.

Alexander-Arnold has undoubtedly been a cornerstone in the club’s most successful era of the 21st century

Reports now emerging from BBC Sport state that Real Madrid want Trent to be available for their side’s campaign in the FIFA Club World Cup. However, with this tournament commencing on June 15th and Trent’s contract with Liverpool still running up until June 30th, the two clubs would need to come to an arrangement to terminate Trent’s existing contract early. Real Madrid have reportedly offered £850,000 for these extra 15 days of access to Alexander-Arnold.

This means that Trent will likely officially become a Real Madrid player in just a few weeks time, and now only has two remaining league fixtures, and a Premier League trophy presentation, to say goodbye to the Anfield fans who have watched his whole career to this point. While the reception which his goodbye will face remains to be seen, Trent’s Liverpool legacy should not be too tarnished by his departure, as he has undoubtedly been a cornerstone in the club’s most successful era of the 21st century thus far.