Arne Slot has insisted Trent Alexander-Arnold will not be unsettled or distracted by Real Madrid’s interest in the Liverpool defender.
Alexander-Arnold is out of contract at the end of the season, along with Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk, and Liverpool have yet to secure their long-term futures despite ongoing talks. All three players can speak to foreign clubs about a free transfer from 1 January.
Madrid were linked with the Liverpool right-back, a good friend of Jude Bellingham, even before losing Dani Carvajal for the rest of the season with a serious knee injury. This week Marca, the Spanish sports daily with close ties to the European champions, ran a front-page headline that claimed Liverpool “already know that he [Alexander-Arnold] will not renew”. Liverpool deny that is the case, and Slot believes any attempt to destabilise the 26-year-old is doomed to fail.
“I think you underestimate our players,” said the Liverpool head coach. “These players are used to being linked with all the top clubs on a daily basis, if they have contracts or not. If you think they’re disturbed by this interest then you don’t do justice to how strong they are mentally. This is part of our job. This is part of this world we are living in. You just focus on what you have to do.
“Maybe if you’re 17 or 18 years of age it could be difficult for you. But Trent has won the league, has won the Champions League; Virgil and Mo the same. I don’t think that is a problem for them to perform and that’s what we see at the moment because they’re playing really well.”
Slot is titled Liverpool head coach, not Liverpool manager like his predecessors, but he retains an influence over player contracts at the club. He said: “It would be really weird if not. There’s no sporting director in the world, even if you have legally no input, that would bring a player in or extend a player that you don’t want. You always talk about these things. The good thing about being a head coach is that if these things come up you can always say: ‘Go to the sporting director!’”
Slot has said he cannot put a timeframe on Alisson’s return from injury amid concerns the influential goalkeeper could be sidelined beyond next month. The Brazil international is expected to be absent for six weeks with a serious hamstring problem but Slot, when asked whether Alisson could be out until Christmas, replied: “I expect him to be back before Christmas, yes, but you never know. It is always difficult to know how an injury will go in the first stages, so we can answer that question better in two or three weeks’ time.”
