Trent Alexander-Arnold's Liverpool contract might not expire until next summer but that doesn't mean Real Madrid can't snap him up sooner.
As things stand, the Reds right-back will leave the club on a free transfer at the end of the season if he fails to agree to new terms beyond the 2024-25 campaign. That means Liverpool risks losing one of its best players for absolutely nothing in less than nine months time.
The only way it can still make money on Alexander-Arnold is by selling him in January, although with just six months left on his contract by that point, it would receive a very minimal fee for the academy graduate.
However, selling the England international half-way through the season is remarkably unlikely to happen. Liverpool isn't that desperate for money that it would need to let go of its first-choice right-back as early as January just to get a fee through the door.
But just because Liverpool can refuse to sell Alexander-Arnold in January doesn't mean he can't sign a pre-contract agreement with Real Madrid , or another club, in the same month. If a player has six months or less remaining on their contract, they can agree to move to another club once that contract expires - but not to teams in the same country.
That means Alexander-Arnold can agree to a pre-contract agreement with Real Madrid but not Manchester City , for example. Nonetheless, the 26-year-old is free to agree to sign for Real Madrid ahead of next season if he hasn't signed a new Liverpool deal by January.
It has been long established that Real Madrid holds a significant interest in Alexander-Arnold and would most likely sign him as a free agent next summer rather than paying a fee for his services, hence why no official move was made in the recent summer transfer window.
According to a recent report from Spanish outlet Marca , Real Madrid is not planning to make any offer to the defender before the January transfer window as it wants its approach to be completely legal and beyond any reproach.
That basically means that if Liverpool cannot get Alexander-Arnold to sign on the dotted line before the New Year, then Real Madrid will submit a pre-contract offer for him to join them on a free transfer at the end of the season.
But Spanish publication Sport claim that Los Blancos could even bring its plans forward and submit an offer to Liverpool to sign Alexander-Arnold in January following a serious knee injury sustained to current first-choice right-back Dani Carvajal , which looks set to keep him out for the remainder of the season.
In order to avoid Real Madrid taking him of its hands permanently in January or offering him a pre-contract agreement to join the club at the end of the season, Liverpool has to sign Alexander-Arnold to a new long-term deal in the new few months, otherwise it faces a nightmare scenario that it may not be able to come back from.
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