'I'm a Liverpool icon – Trent Arnold will be a Real Madrid player next season'

Liverpool legend Mark Lawrenson believes Trent Alexander-Arnold will be a Real Madrid player come the start of next season.

The Reds have started the season in decent fashion but regardless of what happens on the pitch during the current campaign, it's set to be a tense season of it at Anfield. The contracts of three of the Reds' biggest names – Mohamed Salah, Virgil Van Dijk, and Trent Alexander-Arnold – all run out at the end of this season.

If Arne Slot and co. fail to agree new deals with the trio, they could all potentially leave on a free. All three have been nothing short of extraordinary during their time on Merseyside, racking up a combined ten appearances in PFA Teams of the Year, and scooping three PFA Player of the Years (Salah x2, Van Dijk) and one PFA Young Player of the Year (Alexander-Arnold) between them.

On top of individual success, all three contributed hugely to Liverpool's 2019 Champion's League triumph, and their successful league campaign the following season. And in perhaps worrying news for Liverpool fans, a club legend has claimed to be sure that one of these stars will be leaving the side at the end of the season.

Speaking to Sports Casting, former Liverpool defender Mark Lawrenson claimed he'd be surprised if academy kid turned superstar Alexander-Arnold didn't join Real Madrid in the summer.

"I can see him being attracted to playing at Real Madrid", predicted the former Match of the Day pundit. "He has an England team-mate in Jude Bellingham there and I can see him playing for them next season."

Lawrenson, who starred for Liverpool's formidable 1970s side, believes that the fact the full-back hasn't yet signed shows he's not fully committed, adding: "If you really wanted to stay at Liverpool, then would you not have signed your contract by now?"

There are, of course, a multitude of reasons that a contract signing might be stalled, and Liverpool have been tight-lipped up to now as to why they're yet to tie down the talented Trent. Like most Liverpool fans, Lawrenson believes that losing the 25-year-old would be a devastating loss, given how hard it would be to replace him.

“I think Trent Alexander-Arnold is most definitely up there with the best Premier League right backs of all time when he’s in full flow,” he said. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen a better right back in terms of delivering the ball to players."

And while Lawrenson agrees with some of Alexander-Arnold's critics that he could improve the defensive side of his game, he suggests that he more than makes up for any shortcomings when going forward.

"He probably isn’t among the best defenders in the world, but it doesn’t really matter because he just sees passes that other players can’t – that ball into Mohamed Salah in the first game of the season against Ipswich was unbelievable."