'I would say' - Finance expert predicts what it would have taken Liverpool to sell Trent Alexander-Arnold
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Liverpool would have required a bid of more than £30 million to even consider selling Trent Alexander-Arnold before the transfer window shut. That is the verdict of football finance expert Stefan Borson, who believes the Reds will have had a ‘great’ January if they go on to be crowned Premier League champions.
Alexander-Arnold is into the final five months of his existing Anfield contract. The vice-captain, who has come through the academy ranks, has still to commit his future to his boyhood club. Real Madrid are admirers of Alexander-Arnold, who has won seven major trophies with Liverpool. The Spanish superpowers made an enquiry to sign the right-back on New Year’s Eve but it was swiftly rebuffed.
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Hide AdAn offer was not made by Madrid - and Liverpool would very likely have not accepted given they are on track to win the Premier League, into the last 16 of the Champions League and have a Carabao Cup semi-final second leg against Tottenham Hotspur approaching.
Borson, speaking to talkSPORT, said: “It was always unlikely they would sell Trent Alexander-Arnold in this window. To make it worthwhile, the offer would have needed to have been over £30 million.
“It was going to have to be a lot of money and never realistic that they were going to pay five months of the player to take him out. I would say Liverpool, in some ways, if they win the league, they have had a great window. They have not needed to spend, not needed to accelerate any purchases and they win the league. Clearly, if they don't win the league, people will say why did you sit on your hands?”
Alexander-Arnold has recorded two goals and seven assists in 31 appearances this season. After Liverpool turned down Madrid’s approach, head coach Slot said: "I completely understand the question and why you ask it, but you already know the answer: these conversations I have never shared, not about Trent, not about any others, about what I talk to them about.
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Hide Ad"I can tell you he is playing on Sunday and hopefully he brings the same performances as he brought in for the last half-year, because everybody saw how great a first half of the season he had, how much he is here, how much he wants to win here.
"I see him on the training ground every day working his a** off. He is fully committed to us and he will play on Sunday. If it would destabilise players at Liverpool if other people talk about them, then we would really have a problem because if you play at one of the biggest clubs in the world everybody is always - for 12 months long - talking about you, sometimes in relation to other clubs.
"That happens so many times for our players, so if that destabilises them then we really would have had a problem, not only now but in the last six months because there were some talks about our players in the last six months and I don't think it destabilised them at all."
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