Ronaldo 2.0: Why Alexander-Arnold will ALWAYS be a Liverpool legend

Analysis

Trent Alexander-Arnold's move to Real Madrid will not damage his Liverpool legacy.

That may be a hard fact to accept if you look at the way Liverpool fans have reacted to his announcement with unbridled disgust.

One need only search "Trent rat" on any social media platform to be inundated with a plethora of ghastly messages about how the right-back is a traitor worthy of being chewed inside Satan's mouth alongside Judas, Brutus and Cassius.

READ MORE: Liverpool join BIDDING WAR for Trent Alexander-Arnold replacement

Liverpool fans are in their feelings right now, and that's fair, understandable even. They're angry that their generational attacking talent at right-back is leaving the club at the peak of his powers to join another club for free.

And not just any other club, but Real Madrid, the team that's beaten them in two Champions League finals in the last seven years.

They're hopping mad right now. It's a generational crashout from a group of fans who came into 2025 dreaming of a Quadruple. That then became a treble, which then became a double, which is now just going to be the Premier League title.

And just when they were adjusting to that new reality, hoping for Trent to sign his new deal, BLAMMO. He's off to Madrid. They're seething. What a betrayal! The epipthet "rat" is being thrown around you'd think this was a mob movie directed by Martin Scorsese.

READ MORE: Premier League most assists: Bruno Fernandes marches towards leaders

The Scousers are seething.

But they'll get over it.

Just look at how Man Utd fans treat Cristiano Ronaldo.

Man Utd really loves Cristiano Ronaldo

The long-necked tyrant tried to leave Manchester United the week after winning the Champions League in 2008 and, when Sir Alex Ferguson refused, went on to sulk for half of the subsequent season.

Sure he scored some goals against bottom half teams (Bolton, West Brom, West Ham, Hull and Stoke) but, pushed out to an orthodox wing role as Sir Alex prepared the team for his departure, he wasn't himself. He didn't smile much and clearly wanted to be elsewhere.

Eventually Sir Alex relented and put him back in a central spot in time for the run-in and big goals in big moments followed (Porto, Spurs, Aston Villa, Arsenal). They won the Premier League for the third time on the bounce but got humbled in the Champions League final by Pep Guardiola's Barcelona, in part because Ronaldo spent the game trying to win it by himself instead of passing to his talented team-mates.

Then he joined Madrid anyway.

Man Utd fans were mad. What a betrayal! Sir Alex Ferguson had said he wouldn't sell Madrid a virus, now he's sold them the jewel of his side? Then it came out he had negotiated his departure in 2008! So the whole season he knew he was gone and pretended otherwise! What disrespect!

It got "worse" as while in Madrid, Ronaldo went on to become of the greatest players history has ever seen, a surefire top-10 all-timer. He did things in the Real Madrid shirt that Man Utd fans could only dream of seeing in red - even eliminating United from the Champions League in Sir Alex's final season!

But do you know what? Man Utd fans cheered him almost every step of the way! They showed immense love for the man who openly disrespected them and who left them at the peak of his powers only to go find an even higher peak playing for his new team.

They adored him. They fawned over him like he was still their player! Top Reds up and down the country cursed Leo Messi in the name of Ronaldo, they cursed Pep Guardiola, they cursed anyone who stood in their beloved son's way!

This is the exact same journey that Trent Alexander-Arnold is going to take.

Trent is Ronaldo 2.0

Yeah, Liverpool fans are mad right now because they are where United fans were in Summer 2009. Trent is off, and it's pretty obvious he made his decision a long time ago and has just kept quiet about it all season.

But once he goes to Madrid and ascends to an entirely different level of brilliance as he's spraying passes 60 yards to Kylian Mbappe and Vini Jr. every game and cracking 25 assists a season from full-back... They'll forget the betrayal and, soaking in his spectacular skills, only remember the good times.

After all, he's one of their own. And authentically so, too. Where Ronaldo was merely an adopted Manc, Trent is a born-and-bred Scouser. The love will always be there, because they're going to forget the sting of his betrayal and focus only on the good times.

Like that free-kick in the middle of August 2017 when an 18 year-old lad banged one in on his Champions League debut for the club of his life. Or the corner taken quickly against Barcelona. Or the 2019 Champions League win. Or the 2020 League Title including that mid-season masterclass against Leicester.

They'll remember how a right-back is 19th all-time for Premier League assists with 64. Sixty Four! From right-back! And oh my forget about it when people start saying Jules Kounde or Reece James is better than him, they'll all leap to defend their lad!

They'll even get stupid with it and when he's old and washed up and leaving Madrid they'll do what Man Utd fans did and clamour for him to "come home" even though his presence will clearly disrupt whatever Liverpool will have going on then just as Ronaldo did to Man Utd. And then just like United fans they'll blame everyone but their lad.

After all, he's their lad.

Part of the journey is the end. And even though it's over now, Trent Alexander-Arnold will always be a Liverpool legend.

It meant more, it means more, it will always mean more.

Walk on.