Trent Alexander-Arnold: Should Liverpool Reconsider His Return?
A year after the fallout, one former Liverpool defender believes the club should slam the door on any romantic talk of a Trent Alexander-Arnold return.
The 27-year-old’s move to Real Madrid in May 2025 was supposed to be the next chapter of a glittering career. Instead, it has opened up a fault line between player, club and fanbase that still hasn’t closed.
From hometown hero to lightning rod
Alexander-Arnold spent almost the entire 2024-25 season under a microscope. His Liverpool contract was ticking down towards its June 2025 expiry, and the club kept putting improved offers on the table. He kept stalling.
The longer it dragged on, the louder the noise became. This was the local lad who had spoken openly about wanting to become Liverpool captain. The academy poster boy. The Champions League winner. Yet as the weeks passed, the sense grew that he was eyeing something else.
On 30 May 2025, the “something else” arrived. Real Madrid paid Liverpool €10 million (£8.5m) to cut his deal short so he could join early and be ready for the Club World Cup. Liverpool banked a fee. Alexander-Arnold got his Bernabeu move. The reaction on Merseyside was furious.
Many supporters felt he had strung the club along, only to walk away for a relatively small sum. For a section of the fanbase, the dream of seeing him wear the armband one day died on the spot.
Madrid move, muted impact
The football hasn’t healed much either. Alexander-Arnold’s first season in Spain did not match the hype. He struggled to impose himself in a new environment and a new system, and Madrid’s response this summer has been ruthless.
Denzel Dumfries has arrived to crank up the competition at right-back. That signing alone has fuelled talk that Alexander-Arnold could be on the move again, just a year into his Madrid adventure.
Liverpool’s name has inevitably been dragged into the conversation. Jeremie Frimpong and Conor Bradley both endured injury-hit campaigns, and whenever there’s a vacancy or doubt at right-back, the old connection to Alexander-Arnold resurfaces.
This time, though, Glen Johnson wants Liverpool to resist the temptation.
Glen Johnson: ‘I wouldn’t re-sign him’
The former Liverpool and England right-back was asked about the prospect of Alexander-Arnold returning to Anfield, and he did not sugar-coat his view.
“I’m not sure how the fans would receive that move,” Johnson told Liverpool.com. “I can’t imagine they’d be too happy with it, to be honest, especially if Liverpool had to pay a fee for a local lad who left the club for free twelve months ago.
“Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure the fans would warm back up to him after a while, but I don’t think he’s the same player as he was at Liverpool a year or two ago.
“He’s been a shadow of himself on the pitch since he left Liverpool, and if he’d been great, Real Madrid wouldn’t be letting him go. I wouldn’t re-sign him if I was making the decisions at Liverpool.”
It’s a brutal assessment, but it cuts to the heart of the debate: is this the same transformational full-back who once redefined Liverpool’s right flank, or a diminished version trying to rediscover his edge?
Mourinho wants to rebuild him
Inside Madrid, the picture is more nuanced. Spanish outlet AS reported earlier this month that returning head coach Jose Mourinho wants the club to keep Alexander-Arnold.
Mourinho believes he can coax the best out of the deep-lying playmaker, backing his technique and passing range to resurface under stricter structure and guidance despite last season’s flat form.
If the Portuguese gets his way, any talk of an exit could be shut down quickly. For now, though, the speculation lingers, feeding on the contrast between Alexander-Arnold’s status at Liverpool and his reality in Spain.
United link raises eyebrows
The defender’s profile means the rumour mill stretches beyond Merseyside and Madrid. Earlier this summer, Antonio Valencia floated the idea of Manchester United making a move for Alexander-Arnold.
“Trent is a player I like a lot,” the former United captain said. “He has a very good right foot, he crosses well, and he is a player who defends well.
“He would be very good for Manchester United. He knows the Premier League. He knows what it means to win the Champions League and the Premier League.
“He is a passionate player, and I would like to see him at Manchester United.
“Hopefully it could happen, because we need players like that at Old Trafford. To play at that stadium, you need people with a lot of personality.
“Manchester always have to renew the squad, and this is a team that we hope can have a good Premier League season and win it.
“But in terms of a right-back… I just hope that whoever comes in can be the best possible option. And I hope [Diogo] Dalot does not leave, of course.”
On paper, it is a wild suggestion. The rivalry between Liverpool and United runs too deep for a player so closely tied to Anfield to cross that divide easily. The idea alone underlines how far Alexander-Arnold’s career has drifted from the script many imagined for him.
For now, he remains a Real Madrid player with a manager who wants to rebuild him, a fanbase in Liverpool still split over his exit, and a former club legend insisting the door should stay shut. The next move he makes will say plenty about the player he wants to be for the rest of his career.
