Real Madrid will sign Trent Alexander-Arnold before the Club World Cup after Liverpool agreed to let him leave before the end of his contract for £10m.
It means the right-back no longer leaves Anfield on a free transfer, as was expected upon the announcement of his departure after 20 years at the club.
He will join Real Madrid on Sunday 1 June, 29 days before the expiry of his Liverpool contract.
In addition to a flat transfer fee – which sits at approximately £8.4m – the player’s wages for the month of June will also transfer to Real Madrid, making the total compensation received in the region of £10m.
Alexander-Arnold departs after lifting a record-equalling Premier League title with Liverpool on Sunday – his second league crown as a Reds player, having also won the Champions League, the Club World Cup, an FA Cup and two League Cups.
After talks over a new contract with his boyhood club stalled, Alexander-Arnold announced his intention to leave Liverpool at the beginning of May, which was met with hostility from a significant portion of the Liverpool fanbase.
He was booed upon his substitution against Arsenal, his first home appearance since the announcement, but got a positive sendoff as Anfield cheered him as he walked up to collect his Premier League winner’s medal on the weekend.
He will now join up with compatriot Jude Bellingham at the Santiago Bernabeu ahead of the inaugural Club World Cup in the United States, which Real will be one of the favourites to win.
- Watch Real Madrid’s first Club World Cup game against Al-Hilal free on DAZN. Sign up here now.
The Galacticos clearly think he could prove the difference in their pursuit of lifting the trophy, feeling his month-early arrival warrants a transfer fee worth more than 10 per cent of the competition’s £97m prize money.
For Liverpool, this fee will help further soften the financial hit taken by right-back replacement Jeremie Frimpong’s arrival, who is set to sign from Bayer Leverkusen for a fee of £29.5m.
