“I could use one of those contracts!” jokes John Barnes when asked about Liverpool's declining trio. Can't we all do that?
Football has changed since 1987, when he joined the Reds and became Britain's best-paid player on £10,000 a week. However, much has remained the same over the years, including the tightrope walking of Liverpool's local lads, which has been done well.
Yes, the admiration of the Kop beckons, chants in your name, murals, legendary status. But you also risk the wrath of some followers if there's a chance you'll leave.
Just ask Trent Alexander-Arnold, like Steven Gerrard and Steve McManaman before him. Earlier this month, after a day off against Manchester United, the West Derby lad, who has spent 20 years with the Reds, suffered a barrage of abuse. He 'didn't care***' and should be 'taken out of the team', according to some philosophers on
Curtis Jones faced similar vitriol this week for daring to give a careful and balanced explanation as to why he felt Eden Hazard, one of his boyhood role models, was 'better' than Mohamed Salah. He was branded a 'disgrace' and warned that his 'poor judgement' could derail the team's title chase and jeopardize the Egyptian's contract negotiations.
We'll get into that in due course, but it's the situations of Alexander-Arnold, Salah and Virgil van Dijk that pose the biggest threat in an otherwise serene season. Some point fingers at the club for not tying them down sooner, others at the players for perceived greed or dissatisfaction. Barnes has a decidedly pragmatic view, albeit somewhat pessimistic.
'It's a very simple riddle. Players have all the power these days. Clubs can't do anything about it. What I demand, and what fans should demand of players, is exactly what these three have done: while under contract with Liverpool, they give 100 percent,” Barnes tells Mail Sport from LiveScore's Live Fan Event in the Long Shot Bar in Liverpool.
'With Mo the club cannot compete financially with the Saudis, so as far as I am concerned it is not a question of money. With Virgil I think that's easiest. I think Virgil will stay. With Trent, he might decide he wants to try a new culture, a new country, a new language, he's been here long enough.
'There is nothing the club can do to make them stay. The club is going all out from a football perspective: they are at the top of the Champions League, they are the best team in the country, they are the best team in the world.
'The club will offer them what they can offer, they are not going to say: 'we will try to get you cheap.' It's up to the players whether they want to stay or not, and the club can't do anything about it. So I think fans should stop blaming clubs when players decide to leave.”
In these situations it is difficult to separate fact from fiction. On January 15, Spanish outlet Relevo claimed that Madrid had given up on their attempt to sign Alexander-Arnold this month. A day later, Marca said it was a done deal.
Jamie Carragher had an interesting theory after the 2-2 draw against United. He suggested that Alexander-Arnold or his agent had told Madrid to bid for him. In his view, Madrid would not make an offer without the certainty that he was at least interested. Barnes does not agree that the right back would immediately invite a bid.
'I highly doubt that. That wouldn't make any sense,” he says.
'I don't think Trent would have said to make an offer because that doesn't do Trent any advantage.
'Why would Trent want the situation to remain unsettled if he goes for the competition, stays until the end of the year and knows it's going to make waves? From Real Madrid's perspective I can understand why they did it, but I don't think Trent would have been involved in that at all.'
The appeal of the Spanish giants is a bug that English clubs are finding difficult to shake. As Jude Bellingham put it: 'When Real Madrid comes knocking, the whole house shakes.'
Liverpool have suffered many heartbreaks with Los Blancos and Barcelona: McManaman, Michael Owen and Xabi Alonso to the capital club; Luis Suarez, Philippe Coutinho and Javier Mascherano to their Catalan rivals.
However, the 2-0 win over Madrid on a sweltering evening in November felt different. It felt authoritative. Conor Bradley held Kylian Mbappe so still he might as well have been mummified. One blistering slide tackle on the Frenchman sent fans off their seats.
Liverpool had lost seven and drawn one of their previous eight games against Carlo Ancelotti's side, but were in charge in Arne Slot's prison. It felt like a major turning point, one that Barnes hopes will prove convincing for Alexander-Arnold, a man who has declared his Ballon d'Or ambitions.
“He has a better chance of winning the Ballon d'Or at Liverpool than at Real Madrid,” he says.
'If you look at the superstars at Real Madrid, Trent doesn't go there to be a Mbappé, or a Vinicius Junior, to be a Bellingham. He would go there to be right back. And yes, he would be an important player, but I don't think the way the team plays necessarily fits what Trent wants.
'And I think a lot of Liverpool players have discovered that – just look at (Georginio) Wijnaldum, (Roberto) Firmino, (Jordan) Henderson. Everyone who left didn't do very well. From a football perspective, there is no other club more suited to Trent than Liverpool, but that isn't necessarily enough to make him stay.
'If Real Madrid don't win the league or the Champions League, how are you going to win the Ballon d'Or? You don't win the Ballon d'Or just because you play for Real Madrid. Will you win the Ballon d'Or before Bellingham, before Vinicius Junior? You're the right-back at Real Madrid, instead of the Liverpool player everyone talks about.'
Liverpool have a maximum of 32 games left this season, which is admittedly an almost full campaign for some clubs. Overall, it's not long to cherish a trio that has played a total of 1,018 games for them. Quite a legacy.
On that note, some fans felt this week that Jones had disrespected Salah's legacy. In a rather light-hearted interview with Rio Ferdinand on TNT Sports, the midfielder argued that Hazard was the better footballer he would pay to watch, but that he would rather have Salah in his team for a match-winning effect.
It was refreshing to hear a footballer be so honest, even about such a superficial subject. In the modern internet climate, speech is a stumbling block where players can find the most absurd comments blown out of proportion.
Any suggestions that this would cause a rift were duly banished as Jones assisted Salah against Lille in midweek and the pair celebrated together. Even then, he was criticized for copying the Egyptian's celebration, sitting on the billboards with his arms stretched wide.
“I think it just makes a mountain out of a molehill,” Barnes said of the reaction to Jones' comments.
'He is very honest in his assessment. Of course we are very tribal when it comes to football, whether you are Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea or Man United. Should he then say that Salah is better than Messi or Ronaldo or Pele or anyone else?
'I'm not interested. Curtis is a fantastic player and a great servant to the club. He's a local boy, loves the club, and the fact that he said he likes Eden Hazard better than Mo Salah honestly has nothing to do with that.
'It's not just in modern football, it's for all people in the public eye. No matter what you say, the keyboard warriors will come and give you stick. That's why players can't be honest.
“If people want players to come out and be more open, they need to stop abusing them when they are open, especially when it's something so innocent.
'I now put the full emphasis on all football players. When I was playing you could go out and buy an ad for a drink and do whatever you wanted, whereas now you're judged so harshly by everyone, so I understand why players are so reluctant to be honest or open.
'I love Jack Grealish. I love Cole Palmer. The problem that Cole Palmer may have is that if he suddenly starts not playing well, being the way he is, he's going to be stuck.
'What he should be judged on is football and the way you are as a person. Curtis is a fantastic young man.”
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