Trent Alexander-Arnold's move from Liverpool to Real Madrid in the summer of 2025 was met with a very mixed bag of emotions on Merseyside. He'd won everything there is to win with the Reds under Jurgen Klopp after making his break into the first team, but large portions of the Anfield faithful didn't take too well to a boyhood, homegrown talent moving on for a different adventure - even when the move had come just after he helped Liverpool secure the 2024/25 Premier League title with Arne Slot.
When Real Madrid faced Liverpool in the Champions League last November, Alexis Mac Allister's goal secured a massive win for the Reds, but the Argentine's brilliance on the night shared a stage with Alexander-Arnold coming on in the 81st minute for Arda Guler to a ring of boos from pockets of Anfield. Just months after celebrating a league title with tear-soaked eyes in front of the Kop, the Liverpool native found himself in an unexpectedly familiar role; coming off of the bench, which certainly wasn't the plan when he made the move to Madrid.
All things considered, on the overall balance, Trent's tenure at Real Madrid just hasn't quite worked out as he might've hoped. For starters, he joined a Xabi Alonso team, but the former Liverpool midfielder's reign at the club was less than expected and he's now under the wing of Jose Mourinho.
Injury setbacks certainly haven't helped Trent's case for trying to get more consistent starting minutes, but the prominence of Denzel Dumfries and even Federico Valvedere, a midfielder-turned-right back, have left him resigned to most often assuming a substitute's role.
The writing has been on the wall for Trent for quite some time now, so is it finally time for him to make a move to resurrect his career?
Back To Merseyside?
According to Spanish radio outlet Cadena SER, as per the Anfield Index, there's a potential for Alexander-Arnold to make a return to Liverpool. The club have reportedly held initial contact with potentially bringing the defender back in what would surely be one of the biggest stories of 2027.
His current contract with Real Madrid runs through June 2031 and he's currently valuated at 60 million euros via transfermarkt , a figure that's been on the descent ever since he's been with Los Blancos. With that said, Real Madrid could be open to a potential sale of their third choice defender, or perhaps even a loan spell as early as this January for the remainder of the season.
An Easily Solved Puzzle?
On paper, a loan, perhaps leading to a permanent move could work for all parties. At Madrid, Trent is essentially a surplus to requirements right now, having only made a total of eight appearances across all competitions so far this season - only half of those appearances were starts.
At Liverpool, the fullback positions continue to be an area of concern. At left back, Milos Kerkez goes through fluctuations in his form and Kotas Tsimikas is arguably not the same player he was at Liverpool before he went off and played for AS Roma. At right back, Ronald Araujo has been the unexpected saving grace for Andoni Iraola as he's a center back by trade. Before the Uruguayan's arrival from Barcelona, Liverpool were dealt the injury blow last winter to Conor Bradley and Jeremie Frimpong's injury history since he joined from Bayer Leverkusen hasn't helped his own case, either.
Dominik Szoboszlai often having to deputize at right back for periods in Slot's second and final season at Liverpool sort of sums up where the club is at in that position, and Araujo's success in that role has come as a welcomed surprise on Merseyside.
Nonetheless, bringing Trent back could really help alleviate the shortage of depth at right back and also offer an auxiliary midfield option for Iraola since he has to rotate between Trey Nyoni, Alexis Mac Allister, Ryan Gravenberch, and Szoboszlai as to who the deeper lying midfielder is.
While it might be a puzzle that seems easily solvable on paper, nothing concrete beyond the stage of initial contact has taken place yet and the fairytale-esque nature of this rumor is always going to blur the lines a bit even if there's some legitimacy to it.
