Trent Alexander-Arnold's Future: Liverpool Reunion Unlikely

A year after the fallout, the Trent Alexander-Arnold saga is already circling back to Liverpool – and one former Anfield favourite wants no part of a reunion.

The right-back’s move to Real Madrid last summer detonated like a bomb on Merseyside. With his Liverpool contract running down to June 2025, the club pushed hard to keep him, putting lucrative new terms on the table throughout the 2024-25 season. Each time, Alexander-Arnold delayed, weighing up a switch to the Bernabeu that many fans never believed he would actually make.

On May 30, 2025, he did. Madrid paid €10million (£8.5m) to buy him out of the final year of his deal so he could join in time for the Club World Cup. For a local lad who had spoken publicly about dreaming of the captain’s armband, the optics were brutal. Large sections of the Liverpool support felt strung along, convinced their homegrown star had run down his deal only to walk away.

The move was supposed to launch the next phase of his career. Instead, his first season in Spain stuttered. Alexander-Arnold struggled to impose himself at the Bernabeu, and this summer Madrid have brought in Denzel Dumfries to crank up the competition at right-back. That decision has only fuelled whispers that the Englishman could be moved on, with Liverpool inevitably dragged back into the conversation.

Glen Johnson's Concerns

Glen Johnson wants that talk shut down.

The former Liverpool and England right-back was asked about the prospect of the 27-year-old returning to Anfield, especially with Jeremie Frimpong and Conor Bradley both coming off injury-hit campaigns.

“I’m not sure how the fans would receive that move,” Johnson told Liverpool.com. “I can’t imagine they’d be too happy with it, to be honest, especially if Liverpool had to pay a fee for a local lad who left the club for free twelve months ago.

“Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure the fans would warm back up to him after a while, but I don’t think he’s the same player as he was at Liverpool a year or two ago.

“He’s been a shadow of himself on the pitch since he left Liverpool, and if he’d been great, Real Madrid wouldn’t be letting him go. I wouldn’t re-sign him if I was making the decisions at Liverpool.”

It is a blunt assessment, and it cuts to the heart of the debate. The romantic notion of a prodigal son returning clashes with cold football logic: form, fee, and the scars of how the first chapter ended.

Mourinho Digs In at Madrid

Inside Madrid, though, there is no rush to usher Alexander-Arnold out of the door. Spanish outlet AS reported earlier this month that returning head coach Jose Mourinho wants the club to keep him. The Portuguese sees a deep-lying playmaker he believes he can revive, not just a struggling full-back.

Mourinho’s stance adds another layer. If he truly backs Alexander-Arnold to rediscover the levels he hit at Anfield, Madrid’s hierarchy will think twice before cashing in, especially after a single underwhelming season.

United Thrown into the Mix

As if Liverpool and Madrid weren’t enough, Manchester United have also been dragged into the story. Earlier this summer, former United captain Antonio Valencia floated a move for Alexander-Arnold that would send shockwaves through English football.

“Trent is a player I like a lot,” Valencia said. “He has a very good right foot, he crosses well, and he is a player who defends well.

“He would be very good for Manchester United. He knows the Premier League. He knows what it means to win the Champions League and the Premier League.

“He is a passionate player, and I would like to see him at Manchester United.

“Hopefully it could happen, because we need players like that at Old Trafford. To play at that stadium, you need people with a lot of personality.

“Manchester always have to renew the squad, and this is a team that we hope can have a good Premier League season and win it.

“But in terms of a right-back… I just hope that whoever comes in can be the best possible option. And I hope [Diogo] Dalot does not leave, of course.”

The idea of Alexander-Arnold in United red feels almost unthinkable given the ferocity of the rivalry with Liverpool. For a player raised at Kirkby and forged at Anfield, crossing that divide would be a step far beyond a simple transfer.

So the picture is tangled. A local hero who left under a cloud. A giant of Spain trying to coax him back to his best. Old Trafford admiration that is unlikely ever to become anything more.

For now, Glen Johnson’s verdict captures the mood on Merseyside: the door is not exactly bolted shut, but if Alexander-Arnold wants to walk back through it, he may first have to prove somewhere else that he is still the player Liverpool once believed he would lead them into the future.