Trent Alexander-Arnold’s Liverpool future looks potentially set to remain a point of debate right until the very last minute of the 2024/25 campaign.
Or, at least until Real Madrid or the Reds clarify the fullback’s future themselves with a definitive claim ahead of, or following, the January 1 deadline (at which point overseas outfits can negotiate pre-contract agreements).
Anxiety levels will hardly have been helped in the Reds fanbase after supporters spotted the erection of a gigantic billboard featuring the vice-captain and fellow ambassador Iris Law in the Spanish capital.
Trent Alexander-Arnold campaign in Madrid
Amid a ceaseless barrage of links to the reigning Champions League holders, you can forgive fans for potentially jumping to conclusions.
It’s immediately worth pointing out, of course, that this will undoubtedly be part of a global GUESS jeans campaign. Madrid is unlikely to be the only host of a five-storey tall billboard featuring Trent Alexander-Arnold and his former partner.
New Trent billboard…in Felipe II, Madrid 😬 pic.twitter.com/0CtwUeS2TX
— The Anfield Wrap (@TheAnfieldWrap) November 20, 2024
For what it’s worth, the imagery isn’t even fresh – the photographs in question were taken back in the summer (Hero Magazine). So we don’t have to worry about suggestions of a campaign uniquely tailored for Madrid.
Does this mean anything for Liverpool?
On the one hand, it should absolutely be borne in mind that this isn’t a fashion campaign built exclusively for consumers in Madrid.
On the other, Alexander-Arnold’s evolving celebrity status and expansion of his wheelhouse do present potential problems for Liverpool and our hopes of contract talks producing an ideal result.
Not to suggest there’s an issue with our footballers picking up brand deals, but the celebrification of a player is perhaps more befitting of the culture at Real Madrid than at Anfield.
We’d certainly be stunned if that didn’t form part of the Spanish champions’ pitch to our No.66 when looking to lure him to the Spanish capital and the promise of greater individual stardom.
The arrival of Kylian Mbappe (deemed by some to be the best player in the world) in the summer transfer window would indicate that Florentino Perez has dug up the golden corpse of his prior Galactico project.
Trent Alexander-Arnold would not only solve a growing concern for Los Blancos at right-back but represent another crowning jewel in the La Liga giants’ latest transfer cycle.
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