Sam McGuire: Actions have consequences, Trent | OneFootball

Throughout his Liverpool career, Trent Alexander-Arnold has done the impossible on countless occasions.

He added to his list of impossible achievements in red yesterday, becoming the first Liverpool player to be booed by the Anfield crowd. It was even more jarring given the party atmosphere up until the point he replaced Conor Bradley at right-back.

But, honestly, what did people expect to happen?

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Early last week, he finally decided to confirm he was leaving the club on a free transfer. It wasn’t a shock. It’s been the worst kept secret in football for well over a year.

The England international released a video, and a statement, explaining his thought process to fans. It was the most ‘difficult decision’ of his life, despite the fact this has been in the works for years now. Paul Joyce said the No66 didn’t want to sneak out of the back door and that is why the announcement was made with the best part of a month of the season remaining.

I’m sure it had nothing to do with Real Madrid wanting to use Alexander-Arnold in the Club World Cup. I’m sure his decision to announce it now isn’t tied to the fact the LaLiga side want him to move to the Spanish capital before his contract officially expires with the Merseyside club so that he can play his part in the competition in mid-June, meaning the transfer needs to be done in early June.

It was just one big coincidence that 24 hours after his announcement, all of the Spanish media were pushing the story that Madrid would offer a low transfer fee to free him from his deal early.

That no doubt played a part in the timing of the announcement. There’s also a high chance that Alexander-Arnold and his team thought the Anfield crowd would be too distracted with title celebrations now to react to his news.

I don’t buy for a minute that he’s sat on this announcement so not to be a distraction when he’s been one big distraction all season. And he’s been distracted.

Chris Bascombe confirmed it in a piece for The Telegraph.

The lowest point was during January’s 2-2 draw against Manchester United in Alexander-Arnold’s first game since news of Real’s bid was known, his mind such a blur in a poor performance that he has since confided to friends he remembers nothing about being on the Anfield pitch that day. It meant a lot to Alexander-Arnold that one of the first to get in touch and make sure he was OK was sporting director Hughes.

Alexander-Arnold, quite clearly, wasn’t all in on Liverpool. His head had been turned and he was just going through the motions.

You’ll never walk alone points to a collective. Everything he’s done leading up to this has been about the individual.

And he waited until he thought the reaction would be a lot tamer. He wanted an easy life. He wanted to be part of the celebrations and at the same time say he’d owned his decision.

What happened at Anfield needed to happen. He needed to face the consequences of his actions to understand what he’s done.

Rivals fans and pundits don’t have to get it. They don’t have to like it either. This is a unique situation that they’ll never fully grasp. They’ll likely never experience this themselves.

Because, as much as they try to make this entire thing seem normal, it is far from it. This isn’t just a player leaving on a free transfer.

I don't hate the sinner. Alexander-Arnold has given me some of my favourite memories as a Liverpool fan.

I hate the sin.

The sin here isn’t leaving on a free. For years now, I’ve said I can understand why he might fancy his chances at Real Madrid. He’s completed football with Liverpool. There’s an opportunity to try something new. He can experience a new country, a new league and new pressures. It is an opportunity few get.

The sin here is how he’s gone about it all.

The lack of transparency. The long-term plotting. The cowardly way he went about announcing his decision. It all stinks. And that is what bothers me and many others. That is what I’ve taken issue with.

When I say I’m not arsed he’s leaving, I mean it. Well, sort of. We’ll miss him. He’s brilliant. But this has been in the works for a while now, hasn’t it?

The four-year deal in 2021 when everyone else was signing longer deals with the club. The way he’s hidden from the media this season.

Those advising him have done an awful job.

He’s the vice-captain of the club and we’ve only heard him do a few interviews this season. He did one earlier in the campaign to say the Ballon d’Or was more important than another title with Liverpool.

"My number one career goal is to win the Ballon d'Or [over becoming Liverpool's captain, winning another Premier League or Champions League title and winning a World Cup].”

That was a big red flag. You aren’t winning the Ballon d’Or as a full-back for Liverpool. You need the Real Madrid PR machine to get close to that. He was putting his individual hopes and dreams ahead of team success. Even if you think that, why say it? Why distance yourself from the scouse identity?

The next time he spoke to the media this season was after he scored the winning goal against Leicester City. Other than that, he’s generally avoided press conferences and interviews.

At no stage did Alexander-Arnold come out and hint at wanting to stay. Because he had no intention of staying. Virgil Van Dijk and Mohamed Salah made their stances very clear from the off. We all knew that they wanted to stay. That isn’t ‘playing contract talks out in public’ either. That is being transparent.

The celebration against West Ham United will be one of life’s greatest mysteries. He would’ve known at that stage that a Madrid bid was on the way in January. Why gaslight fans into thinking the Real Madrid stuff was all paper talk. Such a bizarre thing to do.

He decided to sign a four-year deal in 2021 knowing he’d find himself in this situation now. He’s been talking to Madrid for over 18 months. No matter what Liverpool did or offered, Alexander-Arnold was leaving.

He probably didn’t expect Anfield to turn on him. I am confident he thought he’d get a hero's goodbye during the celebrations. He likely would’ve gotten that had he been truthful and transparent all along.

After all, you aren’t fully judged on what you’ve achieved, you’re judged on how you leave. He’s leaving like a coward. So he’s being treated like one. Not everyone will agree but Anfield had every right to vent their frustrations yesterday.