Ancelotti Pressed On Trent Alexander-Arnold and Madrid January Plans
01/02/2025 08:21 AM
Real Madrid are looking to sign a right back in January following the season-ending injury to Dani Carvajal and Liverpool's Alexander-Arnold is top choice.
Real Madrid are in the thick of a La Liga title race, as they seem to be every year, but have one glaring problem heading to the second half of the season at right back. There, veteran leader and first choice Dani Carvajal has suffered a season-ending knee injury.
The plan had been for the 32-year-old—who shocked by finishing top five in Ballon d'Or voting—to see out the season before moving on in the summer, at which point a new right back would arrive. A star right back, since this is Real Madrid we're talking about.
Liverpool fans well know who that right back was, with Trent Alexander-Arnold having run his contract into its final year and plenty of talk about a Madrid move—chatter culminating in a £20M offer by Madrid to now sign him in January to fill that Carvajal sized hole.
"Talking about this in this context is difficult," Ancelotti said when asked by reporters about potential January signings and a possible move for Trent Alenander-Arnold at his first pre-match press conference of the new year ahead of Madrid's league tie with Valencia.
"We're going to have to wait and see. That's the only thing I can say. We have a lot of games in January and we are focused on that. Talking about the market isn't straightforward so it's not sensible for me to speak about. Right now, here, is not the place to talk about it."
The manager may be avoiding mentioning specifics—and one imagines Liverpool boss Arne Slot will avoid them when he's inevitably asked later this week, too—but the press outlets of both Madrid and Liverpool haven't been shy sharing information from the clubs of late.
On that front, there may yet be some slim hope on the Liverpool side that Alexander-Arnold might still extend, but an offer of £20M from Madrid—something that wouldn't happen without encouragement from the player—has most fans feeling rather pessimistic.
"I've said that we will see, and we will see," Ancelotti added of his hopes. "But I have a great squad. I'm delighted with the squad that we have. We've had difficulties with injuries and problems like that in the past, but we have always been able to overcome them."
