Steven Gerrard sums up Trent Alexander-Arnold's Liverpool exit perfectly - 'Had what I craved'
- mrwedwards
- 15 hours ago
- 2 min read
Steven Gerrard has admitted Trent Alexander-Arnold achieved all he wanted at Liverpool ahead of his move to Real Madrid.
The 27-year-old swapped Anfield for the Spanish capital at the end of his contract this past summer for just £10million, with that fee only to allow him to play at the Club World Cup.
Arne Slot, current Liverpool players, pundits and many others have shared their thoughtson his decision to leave his boyhood club with Gerrard the latest to do so.
Speaking about Alexander-Arnold, the former Reds captain discussed his own experience on nearly leaving, compared his switch to Steve McManaman's and also seemingly hinted the timing of his departure left a sour taste.
Speaking on TNT Sports' Ally McCoist meets Steven Gerrard,
Gerrard said: "I totally understand everyone has the right [to go elsewhere]. It’s their careers, I’d never really want to interfere in anyone’s decision from a footballing perspective, of course you do as a manager because you want to protect yourself and the club.
"Steve Mcmanaman made the right decision, the Liverpool team he was playing in wasn’t competitive.
"I think it was a huge jump playing in that Liverpool team to Real Madrid, so from a footballing perspective, that was a no-brainer.
“I think 9/10 people would have jumped into that and over time Liverpool fans understood why.”
"I think Trent is very different because he was playing in arguably one of the best Liverpool teams ever, one of the favourites for the champions league, they’re already winning leagues.
“Trent had, in the palm of his hands, what I craved all of my career. I still look back now and wish I achieved what he has.
"So I think Trent’s decision was probably a lot more difficult that Macca's.
“Mine was somewhere in the middle where we were in the conversation and competing for domestic cups but Man United, Arsenal and Chelsea were much stronger, it was tempting and financially they were offering double.
"For me, it was more ‘how am I going to stay as one of the best midfield players in the PL and how am I gonna keep my England place? What is the best thing from a football perspective?’ That was what was going through my mind."
It has been a challenging first six months at Los Blancos for Alexander-Arnold with two separate injuries seeing him play just 497 minutes.
He has missed the last few weeks with amuscle injury picked up during a win over Athletic Clubin early December, a game in which he grabbed an assist.
Between missing periods of action through injury, the England international returned to Liverpool with Real for a Champions League encounter where his current side were beaten 1-0 by his former employers.
However, since that huge European victory for Slot's side it has not been an easy end to 2025 with three consecutive defeats following that.
The champions are now six unbeaten though with back-to-back league victories propelling them up to fifth while other sides chasing European football falter.