Just weeks after saying farewell to Liverpool, Trent Alexander-Arnold was unveiled by Real Madrid speaking fluent Spanish and holding a white No. 12 shirt. There was no visible hesitation. At the podium, with reporters and club president Florentino P\u00e9rez watching on, he looked ready to leave Anfield behind and step into a new era at the Bernab\u00e9u.<\/p>\n
Two years on, that promise has not been realised. The player once regarded as the world\u2019s best right back has found life in Madrid far harder than expected, and his progress has stalled badly.<\/p>\n
Former Liverpool manager J\u00fcrgen Klopp summed up Alexander-Arnold\u2019s standing in 2024 when he said: \u201cHe is one of these stories that not a lot of clubs can write, but he is someone people will talk about in 20, 30 and 40 years,\u201d <\/p>\n
During Klopp\u2019s nine years in charge, Liverpool won eight trophies with Alexander-Arnold in the side, including the 2018\u201319 Champions League and the 2019\u201320 Premier League. His right foot became central to that success, through free kicks and long passes that gave Liverpool a unique edge. Even when his defensive limitations were discussed, his creativity usually offset them.<\/p>\n
He was also made vice-captain, which seemed to place him on a clear path to the Liverpool armband. A boyhood player who joined at the age of six, he had every reason to become the club\u2019s next leader. Yet the lure of Real Madrid proved stronger, and the debate around his departure grew louder as the 2024\u201325 season went on and he still had not signed a new deal.<\/p>\n
Liverpool were winning the league under Arne Slot, but Alexander-Arnold\u2019s future dominated the conversation. After 20 years and 354 appearances, he left for a different challenge, and the consequences have been severe.<\/p>\n
Real Madrid hurried to bring him in before the 2025 Club World Cup, but injury denied him a semifinal appearance against Paris Saint-Germain. That turned out to be an early warning. He made only five appearances in 2025\u201326 before a hamstring injury in September, then a muscle tear in December, disrupted his season. Real Madrid also lost their La Liga lead, lost the Spanish Super Cup final, dismissed Alonso and exited the Copa del Rey.<\/p>\n
By the end of the campaign, Madrid were trophyless and Alexander-Arnold had managed 30 appearances and five assists.<\/p>\n
His troubles continued when Thomas Tuchel left him out of England\u2019s 2026 World Cup squad. England finished third without him.<\/p>\n
Now, in 2026\/27, Alexander-Arnold is still struggling to establish himself. Preseason suggested a reset, especially with Dani Carvajal no longer blocking his route, but Jos\u00e9 Mourinho has preferred Denzel Dumfries. In Real Madrid\u2019s 11 games this season, Alexander-Arnold has been an unused substitute five times.<\/p>\n
Mourinho has also turned to Federico Valverde at right back, a choice that underlines the lack of trust in the Englishman. After the 4\u20131 win over Sevilla, Mourinho said: \u201cIt\u2019s not easy for a coach to leave two quality right backs on the bench, but I thought it would be very useful to have a right back with legs and quality to play behind Endrick.\u201d<\/p>\n
The issue is that the explanation fits Dumfries more than Alexander-Arnold. For all the scrutiny he has faced, his attacking quality has never been in doubt. Yet at Real Madrid, that quality is still not enough to secure his place.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Alexander-Arnold\u2019s move to Real Madrid has stalled, and Mourinho now prefers others on the right.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21867,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[175,987],"tags":[1162,180,182],"class_list":["post-21868","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-liverpool","category-real-madrid","tag-analytics","tag-player-news","tag-transfers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21868","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21868"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21868\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21867"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21868"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21868"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21868"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}