Arne Slot says Trent Alexander-Arnold is 'fully committed' to Liverpool and has 'worked hard' in training, amid intense speculation and interest from Real Madrid to sign him this month.
The European champions made a plan earlier this week to sign 26-year-old Alexander-Arnold in January and are willing to pay money for him now rather than give him a free transfer when his contract expires this summer.
Liverpool have rejected that approach and are expected to reject any official bids coming in the coming days. And while Slot refused to rule out his right-back leaving this month, the boss said Alexander-Arnold is currently fully focused on Liverpool.
Asked if he could say categorically that Alexander-Arnold will not leave in January, Slot replied: 'I can tell you that he will play on Sunday (against Manchester United) and hopefully he will bring the same performances as he has in the last six months. .
“Everyone has seen how great a first half of the season he has had, how much he is here, how much he wants to win here. He played an incredible game against West Ham, we all remember the pass he gave to Mo (Salah).
'I see him working hard on the training field every day. He is fully committed to us and will play on Sunday – if they don't tell me he is sick! But I don't expect them to do that.'
Slot questioned whether the developing saga could derail Liverpool's title bid, adding: 'If it destabilized players at Liverpool to have other people talking about them then we would have a real problem.
'Because when you play for one of the biggest clubs in the world, everyone is always talking about you – for twelve months – sometimes in relation to other clubs. That happens so often for our players… so if that destabilizes them, we would have really had a problem.
“Not just now, but over the last six months, because there's been some conversations about our players over the last six months and I don't think it's destabilized them at all.”
Meanwhile, Slot confirmed that Joe Gomez will miss at least 'a few weeks' due to the hamstring injury he suffered against West Ham last week – but fellow defenders Ibrahima Konate and Conor Bradley will train with the team for the first time today as they resume their promote recovery.
Comments