- Real Madrid approached Trent Alexander-Arnold on New Year's Day
- The right-back will be able to leave Liverpool for free at the end of his contract
- LISTEN NOW: It's all starting! New line-up, some new faces, but optimism has faded at Old Trafford
Arne Slot has warned Real Madrid that their pursuit of Trent Alexander-Arnold will not be easy, citing their failure to convince Steven Gerrard to leave Merseyside for Madrid as an example.
Madrid approached Liverpool on New Year's Eve to sign Trent Alexander-Arnold in January, but were roundly rejected. Although the 26-year-old's contract expires this summer, the Spanish giants could get him for free at that time.
When asked by reporters if he was worried that Madrid would tend to get their way, the Liverpool manager said: “There was a player (Gerrard) who they would have loved to have but he didn't come. You know him better than I do. That's how it happened. .'
José Mourinho tried to sign Gerrard for Madrid in 2010, but the former Liverpool captain turned down the opportunity. Earlier this year, Gerrard said: “I had offers from Real Madrid and Chelsea, but my heart was always with Liverpool. I have never regretted my decision. If I could go back in time, I would do the same.
Like Gerrard, Alexander-Arnold graduated from Liverpool's academy, but if he moved to the Spanish capital he would follow in the footsteps of former Liverpool players such as Steve McManaman and Michael Owen.
And Slot insisted that the growing speculation surrounding Alexander-Arnold, as well as Virgil Van Dijk and Mohamed Salah, both also out of contract in the summer, is causing no distractions ahead of Liverpool's clash with Manchester United on Sunday.
Liverpool rejected the approach of Real Madrid's Trent Alexander-Arnold on New Year's Day
Real Madrid had previously failed to attract Liverpool legend Steven Gerrard to the Bernabeu.
Liverpool's next rival is Rubén Amorim's Manchester United, who are in excellent form.
Asked how much it would hurt Liverpool if Alexander-Arnold left, Slot said: “These are all question marks. My answer is that he is with us and his full attention is with us. This is what you saw in the game against West Ham and in the previous games. He is in almost everyone's team of the year for the first half of the season. That shows how much he is here at the moment.
'For me, there is no distraction and I don't see any distraction with Trent either, if you just look at his performances and how he trains. I see him training every day and the same goes for Virgil (Van Dijk) and Mo (Salah) and everyone else, because if you play for a club like this, probably every player is interested in someone. “That's part of football and that's why we don't get distracted.”
A victory for Liverpool against their arch-rival would leave them with 48 points, eight more than Arsenal after 19 games and on track to 96 points, but Slot stressed that it would not be a “bottle job” if his team fails to win the Premier League. . in its first season.
“I have a lot of confidence in the players in all aspects of football: their mentality, their quality on the ball and their work rate, but for me it is not about getting over the line because there are still 20 games left and there is still a long way to go.” to go,” he said.
“There have been so many seasons in the Premier League, and even in the league I worked in before, where so many teams that have a comfortable lead sometimes win and other times other teams come back.” If you have this advantage in the Eredivisie, you have a 90 percent certainty of winning the league because it is almost impossible to lose against lower teams.
“But this week we saw Chelsea lose against Ipswich, which indicates that it is impossible to look that far ahead.” It is possible in the Eredivisie, but impossible here because there are many good players and good teams. So it's a nice bonus, but it's not enough to be comfortable. That's a nice way of saying it.
And Slot added that after an impressive 2024 in which he lost just one game during his time at Feyenoord and Liverpool, he would take nothing for granted heading into his first game of the new year.
“There are no guarantees for 2025, so we have to earn it: all these victories again.” “That's what we'll try to do, starting Sunday.”