Alexander-Arnold's exit does not make him a traitor

Trent Alexander-Arnold has confirmed he will be leaving Anfield at the end of the season but there is no question he will be departing as a Liverpool great, writes Richard Jolly

- Richard Jolly

They will always have the corner. Liverpool’s greatest moment in the two decades since Istanbul was the product of extreme creativity, preternatural calmness and a precocious talent who, on a surreal Anfield night, eliminated Lionel Messi and Barcelona. Trent Alexander-Arnold to Divock Origi, catching everyone else unaware, Liverpool 4 Barcelona 0, the Champions League’s most celebrated semi-final comeback, Jurgen Klopp’s favourite assist of his eight and a half years on Merseyside.

So Alexander-Arnold’s legacy at Liverpool was secure when he was barely out of his teens. And if one way of augmenting it was to become a lifer, to join Ian Callaghan, Jamie Carragher and Steven Gerrard in Anfield’s 700 club, it may be the vision that rendered him a unique right-back that, while nothing is formalised yet, will take him to Real Madrid. Alexander-Arnold has often looked long, launching some extraordinary passes over vast distances. For years, he has had Anfield in the foreground, but spotted the Bernabeu in the distance.

The galactico full-back may be a contradiction in terms, but if there was one, it was Roberto Carlos. Alexander-Arnold, another attacking defender, may be his spiritual successor. For Liverpool, there will be the dual sense that they have a worthy replacement in Conor Bradley, who is perhaps too good to remain an understudy for much longer, and that no one can replicate Alexander-Arnold’s contribution. He could pass it like Kevin De Bruyne, cross it like David Beckham but not, his critics sniped, defend it like Kyle Walker.