With Liverpool fans still celebrating our historic joint 20th league title success this summer, the 2025/26 campaign as defending Premier League champions will not be far away and we are already seeing plenty of transfer window speculation rumour mill claims when it comes to both fresh faces arriving and some very well known ones moving on to pastures new.
For fans who like a flutter, the transfer market and the moves that take place on gambling sites not on GamStop are always worth following whether you take a punt or not and whilst fans wait for official confirmation of who may be arriving and leaving as manager Arne Slot looks to conduct a bit more business this year, one player that we already know is definitely off is full back Trent Alexander-Arnold. The 26 year old, 33 capped England international, is out of contract this summer and he had not hidden the fact that he was looking forward to a new challenge and fresh experiences having won everything there is to win during his long spell with us.
With him being very heavily linked with La Liga giants Real Madrid, it has now been confirmed that the Santiago Bernabeu will be his new destination as the Spanish side have now agreed a fee with Liverpool to enable him to move earlier, and feature in their Club World Cup campaign this summer.
Alexander-Arnold was obviously able to move as a free agent when his contract came to a close at the end of June, but that would have ruled him out of contention for the tournament in the United States, so in agreeing a fee to complete the formalities more quickly and release him from that contract, well it is pretty much what most expected to happen to be honest.
TAA now officially joins Real on June 1 after a £10 million deal was struck, and it is believed that we will receive the fee in a lump sum payment, so as Slot prepares for his own summer dealings the size of the fee for effectively releasing him 30 days earlier, will come as a nice boost to our transfer coffers.
The right back is said to have signed a new six year deal with them, and there are some claims that the almost obligatory Spanish release fee in his deal is set at the bizarre sum of £1 billion.
With FIFA approving an additional short term transfer window this summer ahead of the Club World Cup competition, this is likely to be one of a handful of deals that a few clubs do as they take advantage of FIFA’s self serving generosity.
Having first joined our Academy set up as a six year old, it has been a long and successful journey for the hometown lad and during his time with us he has lifted two Premier League titles, the Champions League, the FIFA Club World Cup, the UEFA Super Cup, as well as the FA Cup and League Cup, which is a haul of winners medals that he probably had not even dreamed of when he was starting out.
There will certainly be many in the Liverpool fanbase who cast a keen eye in his direction as he begins a new chapter in his career, just to see how it ultimately works out for him.
