Trent Alexander-Arnold is leaving Liverpool. His transfer to Actual Madrid is now all however inevitable. The Premier League champions beat Madrid as lately as November, however the lure of Europe’s most profitable membership is about greater than outcomes on the pitch.
The cachet of carrying the Actual Madrid shirt is a curious factor as a result of the facility and status of enjoying for the Spanish membership seems to have been enhanced as a lot by the Galactico period because the run of Champions League wins within the era that adopted it.
They’re the 15-time champions of Europe, after all. That helps. The legend was cast within the period of Ferenc Puskas and Alfredo Di Stefano within the Fifties. However there was a 32-year hole between the European Cup wins of 1966 and 1998. It didn’t eradicate the attract.
That Galactico venture introduced Luis Figo, Zinedine Zidane, Ronaldo and David Beckham to the membership and it has had a long-lasting influence. “We learned a lot from that period,” Ramon Calderon tells Sky Sports activities. “Because from a football point of view, it was a disaster.”
However the message that it despatched to the world’s elite gamers endures. The easiest, the largest stars, they play for Actual Madrid. In 2009, Cristiano Ronaldo left a Manchester United crew that had reached back-to-back Champions League finals. Madrid had not made the quarters in 5 years.
Calderon was the membership’s president throughout that interval. He was concerned in bringing in Ronaldo, and Arjen Robben, and Fabio Cannavaro on the eve of his Ballon d’Or win, in addition to having been an influential director when Madrid introduced in Beckham et al.
He witnessed the influence up shut. “Gamers earn more money when the large manufacturers turn out to be actually . 1000’s of journalists attended the press convention for Beckham. It was broadcast on the principle information in Asia. It’s the place we’re at in soccer.
“What Real Madrid offer to the players is to get a good image, a good reputation. They know they can get the money they are going to get in another team, of course. But they can also get collective and personal awards. I think that is very interesting for them.”
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Graeme Souness on Trent Alexander-Arnold and why Actual Madrid tempts him
Ah, that Ballon d’Or. Alexander-Arnold prompted a stir when he was sincere sufficient to confess that successful the award was a much bigger goal for him than the Liverpool captaincy. And no membership is extra intently related to that particular person gong than Actual Madrid.
One may select to be cynical about Alexander-Arnold’s possibilities of ever being within the body for it with Kylian Mbappe and his friends round – he’s an distinctive right-back however a right-back nonetheless, However it’s clearly in his pondering. A Madrid transfer elevates. Nonetheless.
“Cristiano has won five of them,” says Calderon. “When players come here, they know that they can win the Champions League or La Liga or the Copa del Rey. But they also know that by coming here they can get very close to getting hold of the Ballon d’Or.”
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Trent Alexander-Arnold has introduced that he will likely be leaving Liverpool
It helps to elucidate the hysterical response from inside Madrid when Vinicius Junior was ignored in favour of Rodri for the 2024 prize. Some interpreted this as proof of a membership that had misplaced all perspective, nonetheless believing the Ballon d’Or to be a mere trinket.
However for its largest signings, the reference to the award is nearly as robust because the well-known previous Champions League trophy itself. It’s a part of the story and spectacle of being a Madrid participant. Go to the membership museum and see these previous wins proudly on show.
Sunday eleventh Might 4:15pm
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There may be one other sensible benefit of being considered the world’s premier vacation spot, a membership able to snatching away the celebs of Liverpool and Manchester United of their prime. Madrid can afford to attend. Not for them the bidding wars of others.
Bayern Munich needed to half with a nine-figure sum to safe Harry Kane’s providers two summers in the past. Had they allowed the England captain to run down his contract, it could have introduced different suitors to the desk and even the German giants couldn’t danger that.
With Madrid, and maybe solely with Madrid, the state of affairs is totally different. They’ve the facility. “People say you cannot let him go on a free,” mentioned Sky Sports activities’ Jamie Carragher lately. “If a player wants to leave on a free transfer, nobody can stop them. You can’t!”
The Liverpool legend added: “Were Liverpool really going to sell Trent Alexander-Arnold last summer? Just sell him? Real Madrid might not have even wanted him if it were going to cost them £60m or £70m.” As a substitute, they merely made it clear they’d be ready.
“In my experience,” says Calderon, “the really top players, they go where they want to go.” This transfer is a reminder that whereas Liverpool are champions of England, and one other membership will turn out to be champions of Europe, the place they typically need to go stays Actual Madrid.
