Carragher: Real Madrid rumours ´must have´ affected Alexander-Arnold

Jamie Carragher believes Trent Alexander-Arnold’s performance against Manchester United on Sunday was affected by reports of a transfer bid from Real Madrid.

The Liverpool full-back has been heavily linked with a move to LaLiga on a free transfer at the end of the season, but last week, reports suggested Madrid had made a £20million bid to do the deal this month.

Alexander-Arnold was blamed for the first of United’s two goals at Anfield, and struggled to make an impact on the game in possession, with Carragher claiming his under-par showing was no coincidence.

The pundit told Sky Sports: “I thought he was really poor. The game couldn’t have gone much worse for him, there was always going to be focus on him.

“I was expecting him to put in a performance he has put in so often where he dominates the game from right-back. He’s a playmaker. I felt Manchester United’s system would play into his hands, there’d be a lot of space to get his head up and put crosses in.

“I thought he’d be thinking about how everyone’s talking about him negatively, and that he’d put in a really big performance. He was poor defensively, but there was nothing going forward on the ball.

“Only he knows if the talk affected him, but the fact he was so poor in the first game after Real Madrid put a bid in tells me it must have affected him.”

Fellow pundit Gary Neville claimed the Madrid bid was “really bad timing for Alexander-Arnold” and that it “won’t be easy, the distractions of having all the noise”.

But Carragher suggested the 26-year-old would have known the bid was coming all along and criticised the timing.

He said: “Why do Trent Alexander-Arnold’s people think it’s a good idea for him, knowing Liverpool are going to say no?

“He’s getting criticism that he might leave for free. If Real Madrid put a bid in in January and Liverpool don’t accept, maybe they can say, ‘Well you were offered £30m to £40m’.”

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Alexander-Arnold did have the most touches of any Liverpool player during the game (97) but failed to make much of them, creating just one chance compared to a season average of 2.37.

United launched 53.8% of their attacks down their left-hand side, Liverpool’s right, with the right-back failing to win any of his five duels and losing possession 27 times.

Liverpool boss Arne Slot claimed the struggle was down to dealing with two of United’s best performers on that flank.

Slot said: “What affected him is that he had to play against Bruno Fernandes and Diogo Dalot, two starters for Portugal. Great, great players.

“If these players set themselves to a game – and that is what United once in a while does – then it’s very difficult to play against them.

“I think that is more difficult for Trent to play against than the rumours that were there during the week.”