Trent Alexander-Arnold's Future at Real Madrid: No Liverpool Return

Trent Alexander-Arnold’s Liverpool fairytale is on ice – and this time it’s not Liverpool doing the dreaming.

Despite a growing headache at right-back, Liverpool have no plans to bring their former vice-captain back to Anfield, sources have told Football Insider. The club have looked at the position, they know it’s an issue, but Alexander-Arnold is not on their list.

Madrid dream, Mourinho reality

When Alexander-Arnold walked away from Liverpool for Real Madrid in 2025, he did it for nights under the Bernabéu lights and a shot at a different kind of history. Right now, that dream is stuck on the bench.

Under Jose Mourinho this season, the 28-year-old has started just three of Real Madrid’s nine La Liga games. In each of their last three league and European fixtures, he has not played a single minute, left as an unused substitute while Federico Valverde has nailed down the right-back slot.

This is not what he left for. Not the plan. Not for a player who once shaped Liverpool’s entire attacking structure from that flank.

The lack of minutes has inevitably lit up the rumour mill. A shock return. A reconciliation. The prodigal son coming home. But that’s where the story stops – with the rumours.

On the latest edition of Football Insider’s Transfer Insider podcast, it was made clear: Liverpool are not pursuing a deal to re-sign Alexander-Arnold “as it stands”. There is no concrete move, no active talks, no stealth operation in the background.

For now, the England international is expected to stay and fight for his place in Madrid, however unforgiving that battle with Valverde may be.

Liverpool’s right-back riddle

Back on Merseyside, the irony is sharp. Liverpool have never truly replaced the player they’re now turning away.

Since Alexander-Arnold’s departure last year, Andoni Iraola has been juggling options on the right side of his defence. Jeremie Frimpong and Ronald Araujo have both been asked to plug the gap, each bringing different strengths, neither quite erasing the memory of the homegrown star who once owned that touchline.

The temptation to lean into the nostalgia is obvious. The links are easy. A boyhood Red, a glaring positional need, a superstar struggling abroad. It writes itself.

But the stance from Liverpool is firm: sentiment will not dictate recruitment. January is unlikely to bring a redemptive return for Alexander-Arnold. The club will look elsewhere if they choose to reinforce that side of the pitch.

As explained on the Transfer Insider podcast, the connection between player and club guarantees speculation, not substance. Alexander-Arnold was “a great player for them before joining Real Madrid”, the analysis ran, and his current struggles under Mourinho simply add fuel to the gossip. That doesn’t mean a deal is close. It doesn’t even mean one is being discussed.

A broken bond that never fully snapped

If Liverpool are cool on the idea, the supporters have been colder.

The relationship fractured long before he boarded the plane to Spain. As Alexander-Arnold ran his contract down in his final months at Anfield, sections of the fanbase turned. Boos followed him towards the end of his time at the club, a jarring soundtrack for a player who had once been the local hero, the embodiment of the academy dream.

It didn’t soften when he came back in different colours. When Real Madrid returned to Anfield for a Champions League tie last November, he received a frosty reception. Every misplaced touch, every sign of struggle since has been met by some Liverpool fans with a kind of grim satisfaction, a sense they are “revelling in his downfall”.

Yet from Alexander-Arnold’s side, the emotional door has never quite closed.

Speaking in August, he admitted that the connection remains strong despite the acrimonious exit. He talked about regular trips back to Liverpool to see family. He said he still watches every game. Still supports them. Still wants them to do well.

“There will always be a place in my heart for Liverpool, no matter what,” he said, adding that he hopes one day there will be “a degree of understanding” about the choices he made over his own life and career.

That’s the tension at the heart of this story: a player who still loves the club, a fanbase split over his departure, and a hierarchy that has moved on.

For now, Trent Alexander-Arnold remains a Real Madrid player fighting for Mourinho’s approval, not a Liverpool signing waiting to happen. The question is no longer whether Liverpool will come calling – it’s how long one of their most gifted modern sons is willing to wait on the outside of Madrid’s starting XI, watching a dream he fought so hard to chase drift further out of reach.