Trent Alexander-Arnold's Struggles at Real Madrid
Trent Alexander-Arnold’s Real Madrid dream is creaking, the Ballon d’Or fantasy drifting further into the distance, and yet the door back to Anfield is staying firmly shut.
Two summers ago he slipped out of Liverpool under a storm cloud of frustration and resentment. Contract talks dragged on without resolution, Spanish lessons were taken in secret, and by the time the truth surfaced it was clear his heart – and his future – were already in Madrid.
He went to the Bernabeu to conquer Europe again, to elevate his game, to put himself in the conversation with the very best. Instead, that move has left him stranded on the fringes.
From marquee move to unused substitute
Alexander-Arnold’s first season in Spain never really caught fire. It was underwhelming rather than disastrous, the kind of campaign that gets filed away under “adjusting to a new league”.
The second has been brutal.
Real Madrid brought in Denzel Dumfries in the summer to stiffen up the right side. On paper, that looked like direct competition. In reality, neither man has won the shirt. Jose Mourinho has turned to a midfielder instead.
Federico Valverde, the relentless box-to-box engine of this Madrid side, is now Mourinho’s preferred option at right-back. While Valverde thunders up and down the flank, Alexander-Arnold watches. He has been an unused substitute in each of Real’s last three matches, his status shrinking from marquee signing to peripheral figure.
The hierarchy in Madrid have taken note. TEAMtalk’s transfer insider Graeme Bailey revealed on October 19 that Real are now open to selling the 25-year-old if the right offer lands. Alexander-Arnold himself is understood to be weighing up his future, aware that his career cannot stall on the bench of a club that barely uses him.
For Real, this is a business decision as much as a football one. They paid just €10m (£8.4m) to prise him from Liverpool. Any half-decent bid now represents a healthy profit on a player Mourinho rarely trusts.
Liverpool look away
As soon as word leaked that Madrid were listening to offers, the usual suspects circled. Bailey reported that Liverpool were among a cluster of clubs keeping tabs on the situation, alongside Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester City.
The romantic storyline wrote itself. The Scouser who left under a cloud, humbled by a harsh spell abroad, returning to Anfield to repair reputations on both sides. A right-back department in need. A fanbase that once sang his name. A club that never truly replaced him.
Except Liverpool are not biting.
According to Football Insider’s Pete O’Rourke, the Anfield hierarchy have decided against a reunion. Whatever the emotional pull, the sporting and strategic call is clear.
“Trent Alexander-Arnold is not a target for Liverpool at this moment in time despite their right-back concerns,” O’Rourke reported, before reinforcing the point: “Liverpool are not interested in re-signing Alexander-Arnold as it stands.”
No ambiguity. No “never say never”. Just a firm no.
A problem position with no simple fix
That stance is bold, because right-back has been a running sore for Liverpool since Alexander-Arnold walked away.
Andoni Iraola has tried to patch and improvise, but the balance has never felt right. Jeremie Frimpong, when fit, has struggled to impose himself at either end of the pitch. The attacking thrust that defined his game elsewhere has been dulled, while the defensive questions have not gone away.
Conor Bradley, once viewed as a long-term internal solution, suffered a serious knee injury at the start of 2026 and remains sidelined. His absence has stripped away another option and another layer of security.
To steady the ship, Liverpool turned to Ronald Araujo. The Uruguayan has been a revelation, a centre-back by trade who has thrown himself into the role on the right and quickly become a fan favourite. His aggression, timing and sheer competitiveness have given Iraola’s side a steel they badly needed.
Yet even that success story comes with an asterisk. Araujo is only on loan. The option to buy stands at a hefty €55m (£47m), and while early signs suggest Liverpool are inclined to trigger it, there is still a decision to be made. Committing to a central defender as your long-term right-back is a compromise, not a clean solution.
And still, the answer, in Liverpool’s eyes, is not Alexander-Arnold.
A crossroads for player and club
For Madrid, the equation is simple. They have a player on the bench, a manager who prefers a midfielder and a market that could turn a modest outlay into a sizeable gain. If a serious offer arrives, they will sell.
For Alexander-Arnold, the crossroads is more complicated. Stay and fight for a place under Mourinho, knowing Valverde currently blocks his path and Dumfries lurks as another rival? Or accept that the dream move has soured and seek a fresh start somewhere else in Europe?
What is clear is that the most obvious narrative – a homecoming to Anfield, a second act in red – is not on the table right now.
Liverpool will look elsewhere to finally solve a problem they have been wrestling with since he left. Alexander-Arnold will have to rebuild his career somewhere other than the club that made him. And Real Madrid, ever pragmatic, are ready to cash in on a player who once saw the Bernabeu as the road to the Ballon d’Or, but now finds it blocking his way.
