Liverpool ‘betrayal’? Man City ‘enter race’ for Reds star in shock transfer as Real Madrid hatch January plan

Premier League champions Man City want to sign Liverpool right-back Trent Alexander-Arnold on a free transfer next summer, according to reports.

The Reds have made a brilliant start to the new Premier League season with Arne Slot’s accumulating 18 points from a possible 21 from their opening seven matches.

That form sees them top of the Premier League table at this early stage, one point ahead of title rivals Man City and Arsenal heading into the latest international break.

Slot couldn’t have asked for a much better start as new Liverpool boss after succeeding legendary manager Jurgen Klopp in the summer.

The Liverpool manager has had some off-field issues to take care of since the summer with a reported lack of movement over contract situations for three key players.

Alexander-Arnold, Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk are all into their final 12 months of their contracts with it seemingly unclear whether they will stay at Liverpool or leave on free transfers next summer.

Liverpool right-back Alexander-Arnold will have no shortage of offers if he does decide to leave with Real Madrid reportedly very interested in his signature .

Spanish publication Marca insist that Real Madrid could be forced to move their plans to sign Alexander-Arnold forward to January after Dani Carvajal suffered a long-term injury.

And another report in Spain is now indicating that there could be a ‘betrayal in the Premier League’ with Man City and Pep Guardiola looking to sign Alexander-Arnold in the summer.

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Real Madrid and Barcelona have been struck by the shock news that Man City boss Guardiola has ‘decided to enter the bidding’ for Alexander-Arnold.

It is claimed that ‘working under the Catalan coach could be very attractive’ for the Liverpool defender and Alexander-Arnold would ‘find a winning sporting project, but he would also be able to maintain his level of competitiveness at its highest level, both in the Premier League  and the Champions League.’

Liverpool boss Slot has played down the impact he has had on Alexander-Arnold’s work off the ball by insisting “he has been a good defender all his life”.

The England full-back, who has started all seven Premier League matches in a defence which has conceded just two goals this season, spoke after their victory over Bournemouth in September about how he wanted Slot to help him change the perception of him as a player who could be defensively suspect.

But the new Liverpool boss said all he had done was try to make the 25-year-old more engaged when the team did not have the ball.

Slot said: “It’s difficult for me to judge how it has been in the years before but the only thing I know is that we are talking here about a player that won the Champions League and won the league title.

“He mentioned himself that winning the league is about defending, so it’s clear to me then that he has been a good defender all his life.

“But because he is so special with the ball, the main emphasis goes to him doing special things with the ball.

“I think with him it is not about if he is capable of doing things, it’s more can his concentration rate constantly be in 100 per cent focus, that’s what it’s more about with him.

“This is what we talk about a lot, that he has to stay active in every situation of the game, even if the ball is further away from him.

“But it’s not that we or I taught him to defend in the last three months.”