Arne Slot is convinced that Trent Alexander-Arnold’s performance for Liverpool against Manchester United was not affected by the growing interest of Real Madrid.
The 26-year-old is out of contract at the end of the season, along with teammates Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk, and has yet to agree new terms with his boyhood club.
Alexander-Arnold is believed to be ready to join Real Madrid, with the 15-time Champions League winners known to be fans of the versatile full-back. Indeed, the Spanish giants did understood that he joined Liverpool about potential January transfer – a move that would take the Englishman to Madrid for a fee now, not for free in the summer.
Attention turned to the pitch on Sunday when Liverpool faced bitter rivals Manchester United at Anfield, with the match ended in an entertaining 2-2 draw. Alexander-Arnold struggled throughout the game, after seemingly being targeted by Ruben Amorim and United as they attacked down his flank time and time again.
Conor Bradley replaced Alexander-Arnold before full-time and Slot was questioned about the latter’s apparently poor performance in his post-match media duties.
“Trent mostly played very good games for the club. Today was not his best game, but that had something to do with them as well,” said the Dutchman. Sky Sports. “Sometimes Ryan [Gravenberch] he wasn’t close enough to him so it was a two on one situation. I would put it more on quality [Diogo] Dalot and Bruno Fernandes.”
At the press conference he added: “I don’t believe in these things [when asked if speculation over a move to Madrid had proved a distraction]. I think nine out of ten people will tell you that it affected him, but I’m one in ten who will tell you that I don’t think it affected him. What affected him was that he had to play against Bruno Fernandes and Diogo Dalot, who are the two starters for Portugal. Great, great, great players.
“We’ve got a fantastic player here with Diogo Jota and he doesn’t play for Portugal for the most part. That tells you how much quality United have and if those players line up to play, which is what United do from time to time, then it’s very difficult for Trent to play against Bruno Fernandes and Diogo Dalot than there were rumors during the week and probably everyone will tell you that it is related to the rumour. My opinion is different.”
Alexander-Arnold drew criticism Liverpool legend and Sky Sports pundit Jamie Carragher, however, who admitted he expected a quality performance against United.
“Trent Alexander-Arnold was really poor. He couldn’t have done much worse,” Carragher said. “I expected him to show a great game, I thought United’s system would suit him and he would have space to raise his head.
“He was bad in defense, but we’ve seen that before. There was nothing going forward today. He wasn’t involved in the ball.
“Only he knows if the conversation with Real Madrid influenced him.”
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