Liverpool may have to get used to life without Trent Alexander-Arnold. The best case scenario for Arne Slot, Football Chief Executive Michael Edwards or owners FSG is that his absence is only for the immediate term because of the ankle injury he ran against Paris Saint-Germain. The drumbeat of speculation that the Right Achterweg is on its way to Real Madrid is only intensive.
It is hardly more than three months until Alexander-Arnold’s contract ends. Although there is a legitimate debate to carry the conditions around which you could soon expand his fellow to free agents-Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk-Nu they are in its thirties, it would cost quite extreme requirements to make Alexander-Arnold something different than a must-drawing. He is still only 26, vice-captain of the club and so inland interest as they come, the West Derby boy first joined his boy’s club as a six-year-old.
He is also irreplaceable. When Alexander-Arnold goes to Real Madrid, there is no Mark Two beyond. Anyone who even approaches the skills of the English International will put Liverpool Big Money back, while the superior option ends without transfer costs (there is an external chance that FIFA will open the summer window early for clubs such as Madrid who participate in the Club Wereldbeker and Liverpool can get a small reimbursement in a few weeks in a few weeks.
Consider the following list to understand the transforming impact of Alexander-Arnold. Mohamed Salah, Kevin De Bruyne, Florian Wirtz, Vinicius Junior, Bruno Fernandes, Thomas Muller, Bukayo Saka, Julian Brandt, Kylian Mbappe, Rafael Leao: These are the players with more assists than Liverpool’s Right. The unprocessed output from Alexander-Arnold is not only excellent for a defender. It is world class for an attacker.
His 41.52 expected assists (XA) is only improved by Bruno Fernandes and Joshua Kimmich. Only Kimmich, the tempo-based midfielder for a dominant side of Bayern Munich in Germany, gets the ball more in the last third part. Alexander-Arnold stands in Europe Top 12 for progressive passes, expected possession value, opportunities created and great opportunities created to name just a few. There are only a handful of better crossers in the sport than Alexander-Arnold, a dead ball wizard that would fit nicely into the origin of Roberto Carlos, David Beckham and Toni Kroos.
This year the feeling of a Down One for Alexander-Arnold has had a little more careful by Arne Slot. He still has the fourth most XA in the Premier League and is on the top 20 of opportunities created per 90, before attackers such as Anthony Gordon and James Maddison.
He would thrive in a Madrid side that dominates anything but a handful of opponents. His defensive weaknesses are often emphasized during his time at Liverpool, and it is fair to say that the best left-wing wing players can put Alexander-Arnold in a blender. No problems, he would play with both if he makes the switch to Spain. Jurgen Klopp made adjustments that could bomb his right back, but they are hardly outside the humor of Carlo Ancelotti, or whoever could be his successor. A mobile right -sided center back, a defensive midfielder who can fall deeper to help the structure: Madrid still has those players on the Roster.
As for Liverpool, they will do extremely good to find a replacement on the market. If you want the ball progression, there are a few midfielders and inverted full backs that might do a job, but you don’t get the last third creation. To get that, you might need a more full back, good luck to let them serve a game everywhere on the right flank.
For a while it seemed that Reece James could arise as a serious rival of the title of the world’s best right, but a one -man flank is a tough price for the Captain of Chelsea. Pedro Porro can be the closest comparison with Alexander-Arnold who can even be extracted theoretically from their current employers. Tottenham would certainly charge a high price for him, and he is certainly not Alexander-Arnold.
Liverpool immediately has a talented boy back in their selection and, when Conor Bradley has succeeded in staying healthy, it is shouting that he may be a ready-made Alexander-Arnold successor, soon followed. At the age of just 21, Bradley is clearly a serious talent and, given that Slot is supposed to strengthen his Strikeforce this summer, there is a compelling case to make the best way to replace a player who has been lost for nothing, someone who will cost almost nothing.
Yet that Liverpool would fill with a hole in the form of 1.2 chances per 90, 0.17xa, 10 passes (seven of them in the attacking third) and a large number of other elite production tricks. The only right back that that kind of gap could fill is Alexander-Arnold. It will take a whole team to paper about the cracks that will leave his departure.