Liverpool have agreed to let Trent Alexander-Arnold join Real Madrid early in a deal worth £10m. The defender, 26, will move to the Spanish capital when the mini transfer window opens on Sunday, signing a six-year deal at the Santiago Bernabeu.
Transfer Centre LIVE! | Liverpool news & transfers🔴Summer transfer window: Key datesLiverpool fixtures & scores | FREE Liverpool PL highlights▶️Get BREAKING NEWS notifications to your phone! 🔔Sky Sports to show 215 live PL games from next seasonReal will make a single payment of €10m (£8.
4m) and pay his June wages, which all adds up to £10m. The LaLiga club had originally offered just €1m to get the right back before his contract expires at Liverpool on June 30. As a result, the Premier League champions will get £10m for a player who will be free in a months time.
Real want Alexander-Arnold to play for them at the Club World Cup which begins on June 15. Alexander-Arnolds Real release clause revealedExclusive by Sky Sports News senior reporter Rob Dorsett: Trent Alexander-Arnolds Real Madrid contract includes a release clause worth €250m (£210m).
The Spanish giants rate the now former Liverpool defender so highly, they wanted to tie him down to a lucrative six-year contract, which includes a weighty clause to deter any other clubs from making an approach over the duration of his contract.
Alexander-Arnold is 26 years old now and so will be almost 33 when his current deal expires – the player could well spend the remainder of his career at Madrid. Real could have waited until the end of June and taken Alexander-Arnold for free, once his Liverpool contract had expired.
But the Spanish club, who missed out on LaLiga title this season to Barcelona, were keen to get him as soon as possible, and so have agreed to pay Liverpool more than £8m to get him a month early and register him in time to play in the Club World Cup.
In effect, with the saving of Alexander-Arnolds wages for that month, Liverpool have benefitted to the tune of almost £10m by releasing him early. That works out at a cost to Madrid of over £300,000 for each day, before he joins them as a free agent on July 1.
New head coach Xabi Alonso is keen to start working with the Englishman as soon as possible. Alexander-Arnold will now join up with England on Saturday, before the national squad training camp in Spain, but he is expected to be introduced to the Bernabau crowd in a glitzy ceremony in the days after Englands final game against Senegal, in Nottingham, on June 10.
Alexander-Arnold leaves with the club grateful for his contributionsLiverpool FC can confirm an offer has been accepted for Trent Alexander-Arnold from Real Madrid for his transfer upon the opening of the June transfer window, said the club in a statement.
The full-back is now set to join the LaLiga club ahead of the expiry of his Reds contract this summer. Liverpool will receive a fee for his services, with the deal to be concluded once the window opens on June 1.
Alexander-Arnold joined the clubs Academy at the age of six and progressed through the ranks to make his senior competitive debut in October 2016. He now departs Anfield after 354 appearances and 23 goals for the club, as well as lifting eight major honours alongside his team-mates, which consist of two Premier League titles, the Champions League, FIFA Club World Cup, UEFA Super Cup, FA Cup and two League Cups.
Alexander-Arnold leaves Liverpool FC with the club appreciative and grateful for his contribution to those successes. The most expensive free transfer of all timeAnalysis by Sky Sports News Chief Reporter Kaveh Solhekol: It is the most expensive free transfer of all time – I thought Id seen it all in the transfer market, but I have never seenanything like this before.
Real Madrid are going to pay Liverpool up to £10m just to get Trent Alexander-Arnold 29 days early – they can wait until the end of June and get him for nothing. But they want him to play in the Club World Cup, which starts on June 15, so they have agreed to pay Liverpool £8.
4m in a single payment and when you factor in Liverpool will also not have to pay his wages for June, it adds up to a deal worth £10m for Liverpool. And Alexander-Arnold will be signing a six-year deal at Real.
It is incredible negotiating by Liverpool as earlier this month, Alexander-Arnold announced he was leaving Liverpool and within a few hours of that announcement, Real were on the phone to Liverpool asking to get Trent early and maybe making a payment of one million euros as compensation.
Liverpool said that was unacceptable and to return with a better offer, talks have restarted in the last 24 hours and Liverpool have managed to get this incredible deal out of Real. Real are desperate to show their new signings at the Club World Cup.
Interestingly, they could have waited until the group stages were over and registered Alexander-Arnold. So the money they are paying is just to ensure they have him for the group phase as there is a mid-tournament registration phase that runs from June 27 to July 3, so Real could have waited till then to register him for the knockouts.
From Liverpools point of view, it makes sense as they are saying to Real, You are in the Club World Cup and if you win it, you stand to make £100m, we are not in it, so if you are going to take one of our star players, you are going to have to pay for him.
Trent vs the rest…Sky Sports data journalist Adam Smith: Trent Alexander-Arnold is revered for his passing ability, but how did the 26-year-old compare with other full-backs in Europes top five leagues across a raft of key stats this season? The table reveals he ranks among the absolute elite for shots, assists, long passing, creating chances, crossing, touches and tackling.
He also ranks highly for scoring goals and regaining possession in the final third. Follow the transfer window on Sky SportsThe first of two summer transfer windows is upon us – and there is no better place than Sky Sports to get all the latest transfer news and rumours.
Use the Sky Sports app and website for all your updates in our dedicated Transfer Centre and Premier League club blogs, plus live Q&As with our reporters throughout the summer. The Transfer Show returns to Sky Sports News from Sunday June 1 for the start of the pre-Club World Cup window and will then be on every weeknight at 5pm and 7pm until the deadline on Tuesday June 10.
The summer transfer window will open again on Monday June 16 until Monday September 1 – with the deadline brought forward to 7pm this year
