Trent Alexander-Arnold leaves Liverpool. His move to Real Madrid is now almost inevitable. The Premier League champions recently defeated Madrid in November, but the temptation of the most successful club in Europe is about more than results on the field.
The cachet of wearing the Real Madrid shirt is a strange thing because the power and prestige of playing for the Spanish club seems to have improved so much by the Galactico era if the Run of Champions League wins in the generation it followed.
They are of course the 15-time champions of Europe. That helps. The legend was forged in the era of Ferenc Puskas and Alfredo di Stefano in the 1950s. But there was a 32-year gap between the European Cup victories of 1966 and 1998. It did not eradicate the Allure.
That Galactico project brought Luis Figo, Zinedine Zidane, Ronaldo and David Beckham to the club and it has had a lasting impact. “We learned a lot from that period,” Ramon Calderon tells Sky Sports. “Because it was a disaster from the point of view of football.”
But the message that it sent to the elite players in the world will continue to exist. The very best, the biggest stars, they play for Real Madrid. In 2009, Cristiano Ronaldo left a Manchester United team that had reached back-to-back Champions League finals. Madrid had not made the quarters in five years.
Calderon was the President of the Club in that period. He was involved in bringing in Ronaldo and Arjen Robben and Fabio Cannavaro on the eve of his balloon d'Or Win, and was also an influential director when Madrid Beckham et al.
He witnessed the impact up close. “Players earn more money when the big brands really get interested. Thousands of journalists attended the press conference with Beckham. It was broadcast on the most important news in Asia. It is where we are in football.
“What Real Madrid offers to the players is to get a good image, a good reputation. They know they can get the money that they will get in another team, of course. But they can also get collective and personal prizes. I think that is very interesting for them.”
Ah, that balloon d'Or. Alexander-Arnold caused a stir when he was honest enough to admit that winning the prize was a larger target for him than the Captainincy in Liverpool. And no club is more closely linked to that individual gong than Real Madrid.
You could choose to be cynical about the opportunities of Alexander-Arnold to ever be in the context with Kylian Mbappe and his friends Rond-Hij is an exceptional right back but still a right back, but it is clear in his thinking. A Madrid movement raises. Still.
“Cristiano has won five,” says Calderon. “When players come here, they know that they can win the Champions League of La Liga or the Copa del Rey. But they also know that by coming here, they can get very close to the balloon d'Or.”
It helps to explain the hysterical reaction from Madrid when Vinicius Junior was overlooked in favor of Rodri for the prize of 2024. Some people interpreted this as proof of a club that had already lost the perspective, still in the conviction of the Ballon d'Or or just being a sninkle.
But for the biggest signing sessions, the connection with the price is almost as strong as the famous old Champions League trophy itself. It is part of the story and the spectacle of a Madrid player. Visit the Club Museum and see those earlier victories proud.
There is another practical advantage that you are considered the world's most important destination, a club that is able to take the stars of Liverpool and Manchester United in their prime way. Madrid can afford to wait. Not for them the bidding wars of others.
Bayern Munich had to separate with a sum of nine digits to secure the services of Harry Kane two summers ago. If they had allowed the captain of England his contract, the other lovers would have brought to the table and even the German giants could not risk that.
With Madrid, and perhaps only with Madrid, the scenario is different. They have the power. “People say you can't let him go for free,” said Jamie Carragher of Sky Sports recently. “If a player wants to leave for a free transfer, nobody can stop them. That is not possible!”
The Liverpool legend added: “Last summer, Liverpool really started selling Alexander-Arnold? Sell him just? Real Madrid might not have even wanted him if it would cost them £ 60 million or £ 70 million.” Instead, they just made it clear that they would wait.
“In my experience,” says Calderon, “the really top players, they go where they want to go.” This step is a memory that while Liverpool are champions of England, and another club becomes champion of Europe, where they often want to go, Real Madrid remains.