How TAA's life changed after being turned into Liverpool's Public Enemy No 1

Life changed for Trent Alexander-Arnold at the sight of a Liverpool shirt.

It had nothing to do with the first red kit he received as a child or when he stepped into Anfield to watch his first game but it was all about a remarkable afternoon as a teenager.

Early in 2017, Alexander-Arnold had just broken into Liverpool’s team. He was ambitious and burning with desire but the only household he thought he was known in was his own.

Wrong. Walking into a city-centre restaurant with his family, a new reality confronted him. There was a young boy dressed in red, with ‘Alexander-Arnold 66’ emblazoned on his back.

It didn’t feel real but it was, he later explained with wide-eyed wonder, the ultimate compliment. Recognition up here is hard-earned but this was a sign the boy was doing good. He’s continued to do good, as 349 appearances, 86 assists, 22 goals and seven trophies over eight years would suggest.

So there was something darkly symbolic about a Liverpool shirt showing how life had changed again for Alexander-Arnold this week. On this occasion, however, it was down to a clown with a lighter and TikTok account, cravenly tapping into a storm and looking for validation.

Whether ‘@liverpoolfc27’ chose his username to denote his IQ can only be speculated but what a miserable episode it was in a saga that, for some unknown reason, erupted and made this 26-year-old Public Enemy No 1.

A point to stress: nothing has changed since December 29, when Mail Sport wrote about Real Madrid expecting to sign the England international on a free transfer this summer. There were no fresh details in this latest round of stories about contract length or no new numbers for a potential salary.

It felt like someone, somewhere wanted to cause mischief. If that was the case, the mission has been successful.

‘It hurts that he’s run his contract down given that we made him what he is today,’ says Michael Wickham, a Liverpool fan of four decades. ‘I offer him no ill will and I understand when Madrid knock it’s hard to ignore – but I do have an issue with the manner of his departure and this leak.

‘We’ve got nine games left and although we are 12 points clear, we’ve still got a lot to do to win the league, so why is this out now? I believe he’s known about this for a while so why not announce it at the start of the season? Be a man and admit it.’

Those looking in from the outside will be puzzled as to why opprobrium is raining down on a man who has helped his club win every major trophy there is and has a mural devoted to him on a street in the shadows of Anfield. He is not leaving on a free transfer to waste his time in Saudi Arabia, he’s going to Madrid.

Liverpool is a city with its own views on how things should be done, especially so when it comes to football. If you are a local boy who gets to do what the millions dreamed of doing, you become public property. There simply wouldn’t be the same level of hysteria anywhere else in the country.

You don’t have to agree with that statement but it is true. When one of their own peers beyond the start of the M62 and wonders what life might be like elsewhere, the level of fury is white-hot and views on situations will not be changed.

Steve McManaman knows this better than most. McManaman, like Alexander-Arnold, was a generational talent. He won two of Liverpool’s three trophies in the 1990s singlehandedly and was the beacon of light in a decade of misery but, ridiculously, there is little warmth for him because he moved to Madrid on a Bosman in 1999.

Facts, for many, are inconvenient but here are some to show that situation in its true light. It never gets mentioned that Liverpool wanted to sell McManaman to Barcelona in 1997 (and had agreed a fee) without him wanting to leave. Nor does another crucial element.

‘I could have gone to Juventus in November or December (1998),’ McManaman explained to me once. ‘It was going to be for a nominal fee, from what I can remember. But Gerard Houllier said no. He wanted to keep me until the end of the season, to work through and help the team.

‘I was fine about that. But I did start taking Italian lessons because I thought I was going to leave. Eventually it never worked out. I stayed and ended up going on a free. Maybe someone upstairs will tell a different story but that’s what I was led to believe had happened.

‘Without being arrogant, there were a lot of clubs in for me. My football was good. I was on a Bosman, so moving for me was a no-brainer for a lot of people. All the right names were interested but there was just thing about Spain. I really fancied Spain. Madrid, that kit… they just had that aura.’

It’s an aura that has attracted many. It hooked Michael Owen in 2004 and it almost hooked Steven Gerrard, to the point that Marca produced a front page in June 2010 declaring about a potential deal: 'Gerrard: Caliente! Caliente! Caliente!' (Hot! Hot! Hot!)

‘I’m conflicted,’ says Michael Fitzharris, a Kop season-ticket holder since the 1980s. ‘It’s hard not to appreciate Madrid’s lure. The history, the Galacticos, El Clasico and an almost guarantee of European Cups. That said, almost all of the above can be applied to his hometown club.

‘Trent has done everything with Liverpool but maybe his mind has switched from team awards to personal aspects, such as his “brand” and his infatuation with the Ballon d’Or. But the move will impact his legacy. He’ll join footballing nomads and won’t have a true home, unlike Steven Gerrard.’

The point about the Ballon d’Or is significant. Last autumn, Alexander-Arnold did an interview with Sky Sports in which he was asked what he would like to achieve most in the rest of his career.

There were four options: win another Champions League with Liverpool, become Liverpool captain, win a trophy with England or win the Ballon d’Or.

He chose the latter. With many supporters, his copybook was permanently blotted and, since then, he’s been judged with ultra-critical eyes.

Growls have been increasingly audible when he has made mistakes in matches and the frustration of him staying silent about his future intentions is about to boil over, though why contracts for him, Virgil van Dijk and Mohamed Salah are the biggest talking points when a title needs to be won is mystifying.

A love affair, then, is destined to end in separation. Whether Conor Bradley or Bayer Leverkusen’s Jeremie Frimpong, in whom Liverpool have a long-standing interest, becomes his successor remains to be seen but making Alexander-Arnold a pariah is as ridiculous as it is unfair.

‘For an entity that prides itself on business acumen and shrewdness, Fenway Sports Group has left itself wide open with this regardless of what happens,’ says Patrick O’Hanlon, a long-standing Anfield regular.

'For what it’s worth, I would like to see him stay at Liverpool.

‘Would I begrudge him his move? Absolutely not. This narrative about him hanging Liverpool out to dry if no fee is received is not fair.

'Over his 22 years at the club what figure can be put on what he’s brought in financially on the back of his name?

‘If he does go for free, Liverpool can’t argue they haven’t had their money’s worth.

'No price can be put on what his contribution has been to the various teams that have virtually won the lot and given fans memories that can’t be bought.

'He cost us nothing – and he owes us nothing.’