Real Madrid Reportedly Prepared to Pay £20M to Sign Alexander-Arnold

01/01/2025 08:12 AM

Liverpool appear set to lose the talented fullback on a free in the summer and are believed to prefer that option to a January sale.

Everybody knew that January would be significant for Liverpool's three key stars on expiring deals, marking the moment when Mohamed Salah, Virgil van Dijk, and Trent Alexander-Arnold would all be free to negotiate with foreign clubs.

Even then, the explosion of stories surrounding Alexander-Arnold over the past 24 hours as 2024 tipped into 2025 has been surprising, weeks of simmer and slow burn rumours out of Spain turning into a veritable flood of new English reports.

Tuesday brought with it confirmation from the Liverpool side of things that Madrid had made an approach to try to sign the fullback this month, with the Spanish giants currently without Dani Carvajal following a season-ending knee injury.

Those stories came from club-connected journalists like The Times Paul Joyce and Atheltic's David Ornstein. Today, it's The Telegraph's Chris Bascombe putting a number on the Madrid approach for Alexander-Arnold, and that number is £20M.

Some fans might try to find a positive lens to view the story through, suggesting perhaps Madrid wouldn't push if they were confident of getting Alexander-Arnold on a free later. To them it's worth reiterating Madrid need a right back now.

It's also worth reminding people that if clubs ever abided by tapping up laws, they don't anymore and haven't for some time. Clubs don't simply make approaches and offers if the player and his agents haven't signalled their willingness.

Madrid will have been in contact. They wouldn't have come to Liverpool willing to put £20M on the table if they believed the end result would be a rejection from the player—something that would be massively embarrassing for Los Blancos.

This wouldn't be happening now, as confirmed by multiple journalists with ties to Liverpool, if Alexander-Arnold's preference was extending his time on Merseyside. It's likely the only question for the club now is the timing of his departure.

In the middle of a title race and financially healthy, there is no pressure to sell for the sake of a fee if it's seen as likely to impact said title race. The only way it would happen would be if Alexander-Arnold staying began to seem a net negative.

That, of course, will be a goal of Madrid's here—to disrupt Liverpool and make Alexander-Arnold remaining at the club through the end of the season difficult. They wouldn't be making it, though, without believing the player was willing.