Liverpool Fans Have a Right to Be Angry At Trent | OneFootball

“He’s won everything at Liverpool.” “Is Trent not allowed to want a new challenge?” “He didn’t cost Liverpool anything!” Everyone exclaims online, completely missing the point.

Trent Alexander-Arnold has manufactured, over the course of four years, an exit plan. From the moment he only signed a four-year deal back in 2021, this move was set in motion.

Fans aren’t angry at just the fact he is leaving. They are angry at the way it has gone about. The way Trent has handled it. Moving silently in the background, pretending he ever had any real intention of considering a new contract offer from Liverpool. He didn’t, not then, not now.

The club offered to make him their highest-paid player; he rejected it. They offered to make him the highest-paid full-back in world football; he rejected it. He is leaving his boyhood club for free, and the club is getting nothing in return.

He has avoided interviews all year and even did an “it’s all talk” celebration. What part was all talk? It seems that everything that has played out in the media has been true. And fans have every right to be upset.

LONDON, ENGLAND – DECEMBER 29: Trent Alexander-Arnold of Liverpool celebrates scoring his team’s fourth goal during the Premier League match between West Ham United FC and Liverpool FC at London Stadium on December 29, 2024 in London, England. (Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images)

To them, Trent Alexander-Arnold was the poster boy of being a Red. Local lad who made his way into the team, lifting Liverpool back to the heights the fanbase expected. “The scouser in our team,” the Kop faithful would chant every game. He was adored, loved even. While supporters hung onto the coattails of a lad who was meant to be the next Gerrard, the next great Scouse captain of Liverpool, the fullback was in the background scheming his way out. The four-year contract in 2021 was not a commitment; it was a countdown.

In truth, over the last year, every decision by Trent and his team feels calculated. Minimal appearances for interviews after games, vague responses, and complete silence. It was a portrayal of a man who was still hoping to pen a new deal at Anfield, but in fact it was the opposite. The decision was made long ago. He orchestrated an exit while letting the club and its fans believe he was still at the table.

Even if Liverpool were to get a substantial fee, the blow would be smaller, but it would still be just as hurtful. Trent Alexander-Arnold had the chance to become one of the club’s greatest ever players.

While the likes of Michael Owen and Steve McManaman are not viewed kindly by the Anfield crowd, there at least is some sentiment at the fact they left when Liverpool were not one of the best teams in the world. Liverpool at the moment are at the top of their game. They have just won league title No. 20, which makes all of this more painful.

Rival fans will mock it, not understanding why it feels like a stab in the back. But if their academy-made player was at the top of their game, with the club also at the pinnacle of the sport, and that player had manufactured a situation that meant they left the club for free, they can claim it wouldn’t, but the reaction would be the same.

For years, Trent has built his reputation as the local lad. Being at the club where “it means more”. Instead, he ran down his contract to join another club, where the only loser in the situation is the club he says he loves. His words now seem hollow.

Things in football are different when you are a local player. It is just the way it is. And when you turn your back on the words and promises you have been exclaiming for years, it is a betrayal. You are wrong for telling Liverpool fans they shouldn’t feel this way; they have every right to be upset.