Steve McManaman has already told Alexander-Arnold how leaving Liverpool for Real Madrid really feels - opinion

12/31/2024 03:00 PM

Liverpool fans have become sick of the sight of Real Madrid over recent years.

If it weren’t for the Spanish giants, the Reds may well have won at least two more Champions League titles since 2018.

Real beat Liverpool in the 2018 and 2022 finals, while also knocking them out of the competition in 2021 and 2023.

Had it not been for Los Blancos, Liverpool may also have never lost former winger Steve McManaman on a free transfer in 1999. If Real did not exist, then perhaps Trent Alexander-Arnold would have already signed his new contract, too.

But, alas, Real Madrid are very much real and very much into the idea of pinching Liverpool’s right-back for nothing next summer.

But as Alexander-Arnold inches closer to the Bernabeu, McManaman has already sounded a warning about how leaving Liverpool could look for Trent.

Trent Alexander-Arnold should heed Steve McManaman words

McManaman’s predicament in 1999 is eerily similar to the one that faces Alexander-Arnold today.

At the time, McManaman – a Liverpool academy graduate – was 27 and had played 364 times for the senior Reds team.

Fast forward 26 years or so and Alexander-Arnold finds himself at a virtually identical juncture. Aged 26 and with 333 games on the board and half a season to play, the two Scousers’ situations are remarkably comparable.

In the end, McManaman chose to move to Spain. And although the winger was hugely successful there – winning two Champions Leagues and even scoring in the 2000 final – his words about that success should be a warning to Trent.

READ MORE: David Ornstein shares his information on Trent Alexander-Arnold's Liverpool future amid Real Madrid interest

“I remember sitting, we'd just won the first Champions League [in 2000] and I'd only been at the club what, 10 months,” McManaman told the We Are Liverpool Podcast in 2023.

“The lads were in the dressing room singing Spanish songs and lifting the president up in air, which I did, but I just felt as if I was a bit of a fraud, because they're all singing these Spanish songs and I just thought to myself 'this is just weird.’"

“I got my phone and I took myself out of the dressing room, went along the corridor, sat on the floor and listened to messages,” he continued. “You [Robbie Fowler] sent me a lovely message about my mother and stuff and I listened to it. But I wasn't in the dressing room sort of celebrating because I just thought it was all a bit weird.

"I remember thinking 'I would have loved to have done this with Liverpool' because I would have been right in the forefront of it all, knowing all the words and really throwing myself into it. And I was very much on the periphery of all the celebrations just because I didn't understand it."

The grass may not be greener for Alexander-Arnold

It would be interesting to hear whether Alexander-Arnold will seek out the opinion of McManaman as he ponders his next move.

Given that McManaman is a presence around the Liverpool academy, we’d imagine that he soon will, if he hasn’t already.

And while it’s certain that the 52-year-old could regale him with tales of playing alongside superstars like Ronaldo, Zinedine Zidane and Luis Figo, it sounds like McManaman does hold a certain regret about not staying and winning things with Liverpool.

The one difference between these two Scousers is, of course, that Alexander-Arnold has already tasted that success with the Reds.

McManaman did win an FA Cup with Liverpool as a youngster and a League Cup in 1995. But he never won either of the big trophies. Trent has already won both. Nevertheless, let’s hope Macca can be on hand to remind Trent that there’s nothing quite like winning with your hometown team.