Report: Trent Alexander-Arnold ‘regrets’ leaving Liverpool for Real Madrid – ‘His worst mistake’ | OneFootball

Trent Alexander-Arnold regrets turning down the chance to sign a new contract from Liverpool and staying at Anfield and is not happy at Real Madrid, according to a Spanish report, but TEAMtalk analyses why this notion has to be treated with more than just a pinch of salt.

Much was expected of Alexander-Arnold when he joined Madrid from Liverpool in the summer of 2025. The Spanish and European giants already had a deal in place with Alexander-Arnold to sign him as a free agent, but Los Blancos decided to fork out €10million (£8.7m, $11.7m) to get him out of his contract early so that he could play at the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup.

While Alexander-Arnold made five appearances for Real Madrid at the FIFA Club World Cup in the summer, he has been having a tough time since.

Alexander-Arnold has had to compete with Dani Carvajal for the right-back spot before the Spaniard suffered a long-term knee injury.

Madrid manager Xabi Alonso has even used Federico Valverde ahead of the England international despite the Uruguay international being a midfielder by trade.

A hamstring injury, combined with competition for place, has restricted Alexander-Arnold to just two starts in LaLiga and only one start in the Champions League for Los Blancos in the 2025/26 campaign.

According to El Nacional, Alexander-Arnold is not happy at Madrid and wishes that he had signed a new contract with Liverpool and stayed at Anfield.

‘Trent Alexander-Arnold already regrets signing for Real Madrid’, notes the headline in the report, which has claimed that ‘the Englishman thinks he made the wrong decision’.

‘Unlike what many footballers think, Alexander-Arnold feels that he was much happier and in a much better place before making the move to sign for Madrid,’ claims El Nacional. ‘At Liverpool, he was indisputable. There, they understood perfectly the type of footballer he is and assembled the team according to his qualities and his shortcomings.

‘And the fact is that, being so special, the Englishman must have a team made to his size, which covers his back and allows him to set up the attack from the right-back position and with his phenomenal right foot, with which he is able to put the ball wherever he wants.

‘There is no one like Trent Alexander-Arnold in the world. He revolutionised the right-back position at Liverpool, and it seems that Real Madrid are not quite understanding his unique and special qualities. The Englishman needs an environment much more adapted to him and Chamartín is not finding it.’

While claiming that signing for Madrid was ‘his worst mistake’, El Nacional concluded the report about Alexander-Arnold by noting: ‘In this way, Alexander-Arnold begins to think and to be very clear that his decision to change Anfield for the Bernabeu was not the best of all.

‘Now he is a player in discussion, with many doubts and whose place is not guaranteed at all.

‘In fact, he has been surpassed by a Fede Valverde, who was neither born playing as a full-back nor does he want to do so.

‘This is the situation of an Arnold who already regrets the decision he made last summer.’

Any truth in Trent Alexander-Arnold regretting Real Madrid decision?

First of all, El Nacional is a Catalan news outlet, so any inside information about Real Madrid has to be taken with a pinch of salt.

One has to question why anyone close to Alexander-Arnold would divulge such information to a Catalan publication.

Secondly, El Nacional are not known for getting a lot of things right, so one needs to wait for other more reliable sources to back this claim.

Thirdly, Alexander-Arnold will have been prepared to face a tough time at Madrid.

Not every player who joins the biggest club in the world hits the ground running, and the England international right-back will have known that.

Luka Modric was written off as a flop after his first six months at Madrid, but the playmaker eventually went on to establish himself as one of the greatest players in the club’s history.

Yes, it has not worked for Alexander-Arnold in the opening few months of the new season, but there is no reason to doubt that he will eventually star for Madrid.

Transfer guru Fabrizio Romano has also said that Real Madrid have full confidence in Alexander-Arnold.

Romano said on his YouTube channel this month: “Real Madrid maintain their confidence in Trent for present and future. There is no panic, no alarm.

“Of course, Trent didn’t start his Real Madrid chapter maybe in the best way possible.

“There is no excitement around that, but this can be part of the game.

“There is an injury, there is an adaptation for a player who started his career and played  his whole career so far as a Liverpool player in the same city, in the same club, in the same country, in the same league, now moving to Real Madrid, different context, different language, different coach, different culture.

“Everything is completely different. He’s adapting, but Real Madrid are not doubting the skills and the quality of Trent Alexander-Arnold, convinced about the signing they did on a free transfer.

“And so that’s the feeling around Trent, especially on the physical point of view.”

Meanwhile, a top Bundesliga winger wants to join Real Madrid, but the Spanish and European giants have made a decision on whether or not they would bring him to the Santiago Bernabeu.