The Anfield faithful appeared to be united in their condemnation of the right-back, and there seemed to be genuine surprise that the England international felt that his career aspirations could only be fulfilled at the Santiago Bernabeu.

Only 14 full appearances for Real Madrid

Unfortunately for the now 28-year-old, things haven't worked out in LaLiga as he might've expected.

Since joining Los Blancos, he's already had to deal with five separate injuries, and that's no doubt affected the number of games he's been able to play for the Spanish giants.

From the start of the 2025/26 campaign, Alexander-Arnold has made 41 appearances in all competitions for Real, but it's important to note that only 14 of those have been for the full 90 minutes.

He's started in 31 of those games but been taken off early in 18, and also been a sub for the other 10.

Valverde preferred as right-back against Sevilla

As a result, he's only played a cumulative 2,526 minutes, which, when put into context, is an afterthought from the Madrid management team. Vinicius Junior has played 5,435 minutes in the same time frame, by way of comparison.

In five games this season alone, he's been on the bench and not played any part, including his club's most recent outing against Sevilla.

That's particularly important to note because Jose Mourinho preferred midfielder Fede Valverde at right-back, even though Alexander-Arnold was fit and available.

Reports have already surfaced since that game this past weekend, suggesting that the Englishman will start to look for a way out of the club, with Liverpool being his preferred destination as and when he does leave.

Liverpool haven't really replaced Trent

The Reds have certainly had trouble replacing him, as Jeremie Frimpong has rarely hit the heights for the Merseyside outfit.

It's worth asking the question, though, as to whether Trent's numbers since joining Real not only justify his routine exclusion from their starting XI, but are also noteworthy enough to get Liverpool or any other interested parties to put their hands in their pockets and take a risk on him.

Renowned for his passing range whilst at Liverpool, only Thibaut Courtois (78.01%) and Gonzalo Garcia (81.9%) have a worse pass completion stat than Alexander-Arnold's 84.86% at Real.

His crossing stats are also a real eye-opener, too.

Only 25 crosses have found a teammate

Many was the time during his Liverpool career that Trent would ping an inch-perfect ball into the area for his attacking colleagues to get on the end of.

However, during his time at Real, of the 115 crosses attempted - the most of any player since he joined the club - only 25 have found a teammate.

That speaks of a player having a real crisis of confidence, and it's therefore little wonder that Thomas Tuchel decided not to take him on the plane to the USA for the World Cup earlier this year.

Given that his primary role is supposed to be that of a defender, then a tackle success rate of 69.05% would appear to be perfectly acceptable. 

That is until you realise that Trent has only attempted 42 tackles in total since he's been at the club, roughly one per game, which is below par at the elite level.

Thirty-nine clearances and 31 interceptions are also on the low side for someone in his position.

Can Trent really be worth his current market value?

Of the 145 one-on-one duels he's attempted, 72 have been won, but 73 have been lost, and it's a similar story with his headed duels, where only 15 have been attempted, seven have been won, with eight lost.

The only area of his game where Trent has had reasonable success is with the winning back of possession (107 separate occasions).

Purely on the basis of the figures posted to date, one can perfectly understand why he isn't forcing his way into the Real starting XI on a more regular basis.

Equally, if Liverpool or anyone else were prepared to try and restore Trent's battered confidence, they'd surely expect a healthy discount on his current market value, which is believed to be in the region of €60 million.

Real signed him for just €10m, of course, wanting him earlier than his contract expiry date, in order that he could play in the Club World Cup.

Maybe a similar loan fee in the January window could be the first step toward the player resurrecting his career elsewhere...