Arne Slot believes Trent Alexander-Arnold's performance for Liverpool against Manchester United was not affected by growing interest from Real Madrid.
The 26-year-old is out of contract at the end of the season, along with team-mates Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk, and is yet to agree new terms with his boyhood club.
Alexander-Arnold is understood to be open to joining Real Madrid, with the 15-time Champions League winners known admirers of the versatile full-back. Indeed, the Spanish giants are it is understood that he has approached Liverpool for a possible January tRANSFER – a move that would take the Englishman to Madrid now on a fee rather than for free in the summer.
The focus turned to the pitch on Sunday as Liverpool took on bitter rivals Manchester United at Anfield, with The match ends in an entertaining 2-2 draw. Alexander-Arnold struggled throughout the match as he was targeted by Ruben Amorim and United as they attacked his flank time and time again.
Conor Bradley replaced Alexander-Arnold before full-time, with Slott questioned about the latter's apparently poor performance in his post-match media duties.
“Trent has mostly played very good games for the club. Today was not his best game, but that had something to do with them,” said the Dutchman. Sky Sports. “Sometimes Ryan (Gravenberch) wasn't close enough to him, so it was a two-on-one situation. I would put it more down to the quality of (Diogo) Dalot and Bruno Fernandes.”
He added in his press conference: “I don't believe in those things (when asked if speculation about a move to Madrid had proved a distraction). I think nine out of 10 people will tell you it has affected him , but I'm one of 10 who tells you that I don't think it affected him was that he had to play with Bruno Fernandes and Diogo Dalot, who are two big, big, big players.
“We've got a fantastic player here in Diogo Jota and mostly he's not playing for Portugal. It shows you how much quality United have and if these players commit themselves to a game, and that's what United do time and time again, then it .It is very difficult to play against them. This is more difficult for Trent to play against Bruno Fernandes and Diogo Dalot than the rumors there during the week and probably everyone will tell you it was about Rumors, my opinion is i different”.
Alexander-Arnold drew criticism from Liverpool legend and Sky Sports However, pundit Jamie Carragher, who admitted he would expect a quality performance against United.
“Trent Alexander-Arnold was really poor. It couldn't have gone much worse for him,” Carragher said. “I expected him to put in a big performance, I thought United's system would play into his hands and he would have space to put his head up.
“He was poor defensively, but we've seen that before. There was nothing to go on today. He wasn't really involved with the ball.
“Only he knows if he talks to me Real Madrid has influenced him”.