Well, that was unexpected.Trent Alexander-Arnoldtook out the earpiece, made his way to the stage at Real Madrid’s training ground and said: “Buenas tardes, a todos.” Good afternoon, everyone. So far, so standard. But then he delivered the next line in Spanish too, then the one after that, and the one after that.
He kept going until he got to the end of his speech, when he delivered the one line everyone invariably does on the day they are presented here:“Hala Madrid!”It wasn’t long – one minute and one second, in all – but it was long enough to win them over already.
“I think it surprised a lot of people,” Alexander-Arnold said when he had made his way over to the press room. “For me it was important to do that, to have a good start.” He wasn’t wrong: there had been a kind of double-take as he went on, an increasing admiration, and this was averygood start: delivered smoothly, with no cue cards, only the tiniest pause at one point and in genuinely good Spanish, accent and all. “Perfect,” one sports daily called it. “Impeccable,” another said. Suspiciously good, some inevitably suggested.
“How long have you been learning for?” he was asked. There was a smile, an awareness that this question could be a little loaded. “A few months, a few months,” he replied. “This is very, very exciting for me, a day I’ve been looking forward to for a long time – by ‘waiting a long time’ I mean a couple of weeks, not years.”
There were those who wondered whether Alexander-Arnold’s departure fromLiverpoolhadn’t been longer in the making, the quality of his Spanish something to celebrate but also becoming exhibit A. His decision to leave, after all, had not been accepted by everyone, some supporters booing him. But the defender, raised in West Derby and at the club since he was six, said he was happy with the sendoff and the club’s owners told him he would be welcome back. He would be “for ever indebted”. He would only have ever left for Madrid, he said.
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“There’s a contrast of emotions, two different ends of the scale,” Alexander-Arnold said. “Experiencing everything I did [at Liverpool], what I had done. It was an honour, it was always going to be emotional for me. I am happy with the sendoff, the way the club treated me, the way the fans were. That was outstanding, I couldn’t say a bad word.
“I was speaking to players, the manager, the owners, and they were all incredible. I had a lot of support, a huge amount of help, and an amazing conversation with the owners that lasted a couple of days. They thanked me for everything I gave, wished me well on my future journey and said they would have me back at the club at any point.
“To have those words was amazing. And to be here now facing a new challenge is equally exciting. I’m over the moon, absolutely over the moon, Not many players get to experience this. I am very lucky and very proud. To play forReal Madridis a fantastic honour, an achievement in itself.”
He added: “Ten or 11 years ago, this is not something you dream of because it is just out of reach: there’s only a select handful that get a chance to be part of this.” The dream had become real. “It was not a question of where to go; it was whether or not to go. I knew that if I was ever to leave Liverpool, it would only be to Real Madrid. And it gets to the point where you have to make a decision whether to go or stay. It wasn’t an easy decision. I had been there so long. But in my mind it is the right one.
“I am fortunate to have played for the biggest club in England and now the biggest in Spain, and both have massive histories. I am much happier playing with these players than against them. I am sure we can strike up a good connection and get the chemistry going. Hopefully I can give them many, many assists.”
“I feel mature, ready, experienced enough to go and be successful somewhere else. It’s an opportunity you have to think about seriously and I did.”
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Asked if his attacking qualities might be more appreciated in a Spanish football culture, rather than in England where focus perhaps falls on defensive flaws, Alexander-Arnold replied: “That’s not something I have really thought about, to be honest. I do what I am told; I did that with two managers at Liverpool. If people don’t appreciate the way I play, it is what it is. As long as the manager and the players appreciate me, then: whatever.”
There will be two familiar faces waiting for him in Madrid: his close friend Jude Bellingham and the former Liverpool midfielder Xabi Alonso,who has just taken over as coach. Alexander‑Arnold, though, denied that agent Bellingham had played a key role in bringing him to the Bernabéu.
“It wasn’t exactly what people thought it was,” he said. “We spoke. We spoke a lot about Liverpool and Madrid. That’s just the kind of conversations we have as players and friends. In the national team, he was the only one who knew what it was like to be at Real Madrid so everyone was asking questions. A lot of people think he played a huge part in me coming here but the club speaks for itself.”
Of Alonso he said: “I grew up a Liverpool fan watching Istanbul [the 2005 Champions League triumph, in which the Spaniard scored] and now he is a manager and doing incredible things. I have spoken to him and it is good to have that communication. I told him he was a big idol growing up so to be able to work with him is a dream. Watching him pass a ball influenced me to train harder at that and set standards – I explained that to him as well. I will be a sponge around him, trying to soak up all the information I can.”
On the back of the new shirt is a No 12 and just “Trent”. “That’s easily explained,” Real Madrid’s new signing said. “I always found that in Europe the whole name thing confused a lot of people. Double barrelled. Some called me Alexander, some called me Arnold, some both, some Alex. Some Trent. I thought: ‘Let’s make it simple. Trent’s my name. Trent on the back, let’s make it Trent. That’s what people can call me.’”