Real Madrid are pushing ahead with their plans to strengthen and rebuild ahead of 2025/26 and a contract for Liverpool full-back Trent Alexander-Arnold is reported to be all but complete.
Alexander-Arnold is out of contract at Liverpool at the end of the season and, having recently entered the final six months of that deal, is already able to formally negotiate and potentially sign a pre-contract with any overseas club.
Alexander-Arnold has long been a target for Madrid, who are thought to have tried an opportunistic lowball strategy against Liverpool in January but failed.
The players at the center of what AS refers to as Madrid’s “facelift operation” are Alexander-Arnold, Martin Zubimendi of Real Sociedad, and Dean Huijsen of Bournemouth.
Alexander-Arnold has consistently appeared more eager to move on than the other two Liverpool stars, Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk, whose contracts expire this summer. The 26-year-old, who is at a significant career turning point where he must decide whether to stay with Liverpool or take on a new challenge during his prime, is in a completely different stage of his career than the two veterans.
In the end, Alexander-Arnold would be Dani Carvajal’s long-term replacement. Carvajal will turn 34 on his next birthday and is not too far from making a full recovery from an ACL injury sustained in October.
Nor would Lucas Vazquez be forced to leave despite Alexander-Arnold’s increasingly likely capture. The 34-year-old former winger, who is now a right-back at the club
Alexander-Arnold’sotherconcern is that leaving Liverpool will mean the end of his cherished No. 66 shirt, which he has never given up despite being a regular member of the first team at Anfield since 2018. According to La Liga regulations, all registered first-team players in Spain’s top division are required to wear shirts with the numbers 1–25, with goalkeepers being assigned the numbers 13 and 25.
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