Xabi Alonso played for Liverpool for five years when Trent Alexander-Arnold was a young Liverpool fan – and his admiration is obvious for the man who could become his Real Madrid manager
Trent Alexander-Arnold idolised Xabi Alonso when he was a youngster – and now he looks set to join him at Real Madrid. Alexander-Arnold announced on Monday that he has decided to leave Liverpool at the end of the season, rather than sign a new contract with his boyhood club.
The right-back came through the club’s academy and has been on the books for 20 years, having worked his way through the ranks to become a key player. He has won every trophy available since breaking into the first team in 2016 and will leave after lifting the Premier League for the second time in his career.
Although he is yet to officially announce it, Alexander-Arnold will join Real Madrid on a six-year contract next month. The Spanish giants want to get him into the team before the Club World Cup, meaning they are willing to pay around £1.6million to end the England star’s contract before it expires on June 30.
Carlo Ancelotti remains in charge of Los Blancos for now, despite heavy scrutiny after the club’s Champions League exit to Arsenal. However, Ancelotti has held talks with the Brazilian FA about taking the national team job and Alonso is the red-hot favourite to succeed the Italian, having impressed in two years at Bayer Leverkusen.
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Leverkusen won’t stand in the former midfielder’s way this summer after Bayern Munich secured the Bundesliga title. Alonso, 43, spent five years playing for Real after joining the Spanish giants from Liverpool in 2009.
It was at Anfield where a young Alexander-Arnold came to study his game and dream of becoming a top passer like the Spaniard and club legend Steven Gerrard. As he told the club website in December 2019: “I think it’s just about replicating the players that I wanted to be when I was younger – the likes of Gerrard, Alonso, who were unbelievable passers of the ball. I always wanted to be able to pass a ball like that.
“Obviously I still look up to them massively and sometimes I still find myself watching clips of them – especially Gerrard, I always watch his old clips, his old games. He’s someone that I still look up to now and still an idol for me.
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“It’s just growing up wanting to be them. I was practising a lot on my passing and for me it’s paid off and I’m reaping the rewards now.”
Alexander-Arnold shared a photo of himself and Alonso on his Instagram account back in November after Liverpool beat Leverkusen 4-0 at Anfield in the Champions League group stages thanks to a Luis Diaz hat-trick. That game marked the first time Alonso faced Liverpool since leaving for Real in 2009.
Even back then the photo, which attracted 1.2m likes, was flooded with comments from fans speculating that the two could meet up at Real in the summer. That now looks odds-on with things set to move fast now the end of the 2024/25 season is nearly here.
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