New Liverpool boss Arne Slot might be inheriting a dilemma he really did not want to face. According to the latest reports, Real Madrid is stepping up its transfer interest in Trent Alexander-Arnold , star player and club vice-captain.
As a first port of call, Slot will hope that it's all just paper talk. It's Bild in Germany that has claimed Real Madrid has now begun talks with Alexander-Arnold , and that the idea of a move interests the Liverpool man.
Unfortunately, however, it's not exactly beyond the realms of possibility that there is some substance to this rumor. Quite apart from Alexander-Arnold's close friendship with Jude Bellingham , Liverpool has seen numerous players have their heads turned by the prospect of a move to the Bernabeu — usually transfer targets rather than current players, but the same principle applies.
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And the brutal reality is that Liverpool has allowed itself to get into this position by letting Alexander-Arnold's contract run into its final year. Everyone (except maybe Gareth Southgate and the England team) can see the 25-year-old's immense quality, and any top club would be enamored by the idea of signing him on a free transfer.
Rather than curse his predecessors, though, Slot — as well as new sporting director Richard Hughes — must sit Alexander-Arnold down and start talking. And it just so happens the new head coach had been planning talks anyway.
A couple of weeks ago, in a happier time, the biggest dilemma Slot seemed to have over Alexander-Arnold was where on the pitch to play him. He spoke about that and the positioning of Cody Gakpo at his introductory press conference (via the Mirror ):
"I don't have an opinion about what their best position would be at their countries because that depends on what other players they have," Slot said. "You cannot judge a player on their own.
"It's always a team effort. But I do have my opinion about where they're going to play here. But if you don't mind, I'm going to talk to them about that first and work with them first before telling you."
Now, when he sits down with Alexander-Arnold for the first time, it seems there might be something else to add to the agenda. No piece of business this summer is more important.
Liverpool.com says: This will be an immediate test of Slot's man-management credentials. You can imagine Jurgen Klopp taking all of 30 seconds to sell Alexander-Arnold on the dream of retiring as one of the all-time great Liverpool legends, and the new boss will need to make a similarly compelling pitch about why Anfield is still the place to be.
At the same time, he couldn't exactly be blamed if Alexander-Arnold has had his head turned. Again, if there's any fault, it lies with allowing the contract situation to get to this point — but it's notoriously hard to beat the near-mythical lure of Real Madrid.
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