Madrid's move for Alexander-Arnold opens old wounds

Defender's expected transfer will put him alongside Owen and McManaman as Reds unable to resist the Bernabéu

- John Brewin

That Liverpool to Real Madrid is a regular trade route will do little to douse the rage Trent Alexander-Arnold's expected move to the Spanish capital has caused. That Madrid are Liverpool's nemesis in terms of European Cup/Champions League wins and, in recent years, two finals of that same competition, will hardly sweeten the pill, either.

If Steven Gerrard resisted such temptations, feted forebears and contemporaries were tempted and succumbed. The aristocratic hubris of Madrid has regularly robbed Liverpool of its prime talents. Not just those loved and lost. Jude Bellingham might be two years into his Anfield career by now, such a plan mooted in Liverpool's front office, only for him to opt for the Bernabéu.

Alexander-Arnold's move is most regularly compared with Steve McManaman's departure on a Bosman free transfer in 1999. Within Liverpool's depressed late-90s period, "Macca" had remained a shining light only to turn down a fresh contract. McManaman was accused of treachery during his closing months in Liverpool red. That a lack of a transfer fee left Liverpool financially short was the common complaint, one shared with Alexander-Arnold, though the parameters are now rather different.