Liverpool fans attacking Trent Alexander-Arnold for wanting to go to Real Madrid are ‘knuckleheads’, says Chris Sutton

Liverpool fans lambasting Trent Alexander-Arnold for wanting to leave the club don’t ‘have a great understanding of football’, former player and pundit Chris Sutton said on the latest ‘It’s All Kicking Off!’ podcast.

Alexander-Arnold, 26, has been the subject of intense speculation for much of this season.

And on Tuesday, Mail Sport reported Real Madrid remain confident of signing Alexander-Arnold this summer on a free – with sources in Spain suggesting the move is ‘all set and done’. 

‘Just because Trent wants to leave, it doesn’t mean he doesn’t have great affection for the club’, Sutton told co-host and Mail columnist Ian Ladyman.

‘He has been there for more than 20 years. All in all, it’s his choice. I think with the backlash – do these people have a great understanding of football?

‘I think this criticism is coming from knuckleheads. He’s given great service to Liverpool. He’s won everything he can win with the club and now he wants to try something different.’

A Liverpool fan vented his frustration with Trent Alexander-Arnold by burning one of his shirts

Trent has registered seven assists and two goals from right back so far this campaign and is a key part of a Liverpool side that currently sits atop the Premier League table.

Ladyman agreed with Sutton, adding that the uncertainty that surrounds Liverpool’s ability to compete for big trophies, with the contracts of Virgil Van Dijk and Mohamed Salah also expiring, probably played a role in turning Alexander-Arnold’s head.

Co-host Ladyman said: ‘Putting myself in his position, say he’s got seven or eight years left in his career, he’ll want to win more league titles and European cups.

‘It’s very difficult to win European cups and league titles. Real Madrid, like it or not, wins them all the time.

‘Who knows what’s going to happen after this season? Arsenal will come again, probably with a centre forward, and Manchester City will be revitalised.

‘There is no guarantee that Trent stays and wins anything.’

A Liverpool fan vented his frustrations earlier this week by burning one of Alexander-Arnold’s shirts in a viral video. 

Sutton said modern players are too harshly judged for wanting to explore new opportunities – condemned for being disloyal or not ambitious enough.

‘When you look at someone like Jamie Carragher criticising Trent for not wanting to be a one-club man’, the former striker argued.

‘Maybe someone like Jamie never had an offer to go to a club like Madrid. It’s easy to say he should stay at Liverpool forever because he’s a Liverpool lad and all these things, but it doesn’t happen much in this day and age.

‘Some people could look at Trent’s situation and think, if he didn’t go to Madrid, he lacks ambition.’

To hear Ian Ladyman and Chris Sutton’s full opinions on Alexander Arnold’s much-mooted transfer to Madrid – and a debate on who is the greatest fullback in Premier League history, listen to ‘It’s All Kicking Off!’ now, wherever you get your podcasts.