It was July 2023, and as preparations for the new season were underway in Singapore, Jurgen Klopp was tasked with reshuffling the Reds' leadership ranks after captain Jordan Henderson and vice-captain James Milner had left the club a few weeks earlier.

Fairly soon after the veteran midfield duo departed Anfield, who had assumed Liverpool's leadership responsibilities for the last eight years, Klopp settled on Van Dijk and Alexander-Arnold as the new chiefs of his playing squad.

Arne Slot replies to Trent Alexander-Arnold exit talk as Liverpool boss responds to 'situation'	Trent Alexander-Arnold opened up on Liverpool changes under Arne Slot in exit hint	Arne Slot addresses Trent Alexander-Arnold Liverpool exit update and won't make promise

Van Dijk's appointment as the new leader-in-chief was little surprise given that he had assumed the mantle on several occasions in the absence of Henderson and Milner since joining from Southampton in January 2018, not to mention that he was already the captain of the Dutch national team.

However, the decision to promote Alexander-Arnold was perhaps slightly less straightforward given that Liverpool already had several international captains - including Mohamed Salah and Andy Robertson - in their ranks.

In the eyes of Klopp, the conclusion to fast-track Alexander-Arnold through Liverpool's leadership ranks was one that would benefit the club in the years ahead, with the full-back clearly in line to inherit the armband when Van Dijk eventually called time on his legendary Anfield career.

"I just think Trent is ready,” said Klopp.

“I will stay happy because he’s not only representing that slightly younger generation, he’s representing everything about this club."

But after reports in the English press this week claimed Alexander-Arnold is closing in on a move to Real Madrid at the end of the season, it seems that Klopp's masterplan may, in fact, never come to fruition.

Of course, Alexander-Arnold is human, and the idea of a new challenge, in a new city may well appeal to the soon-to-be two-time Premier League winner, who has won every trophy available since he marked his Anfield with a crunching tackle on Ben Davies during a Carabao Cup tie against Tottenham Hotspur in October 2016.

But unfortunately for the 26-year-old, the partisan nature of the sports means that Kopties - who have spent the last nine years watching Alexander-Arnold play out their dreams - will never be able to understand the motive behind a move to the Spanish capital at a time when Anfield immortality feels within touching distance.

In hailing from West Derby, Alexander-Arnold is not the first player to have gone from standing on the bins outside Melwood to a first-team professional.

But he is arguably the only player to have made that transition when Liverpool are a force to be reckoned with in both the Premier League and Champions League.

Of course, it was Huyton's Steven Gerrard who hoisted the Champions League into the Istanbul skyline after completing the greatest comeback of all time

In Alexander-Arnold's case, though, he became the youngest player in the history of the Champions League to feature in back-to-back finals when he helped Liverpool defeat Tottenham Hotspur to claim a sixth triumph in the competition at 20.

Since then, he has been the creative nucleus of a Liverpool team that has won the Premier League and featured in a further seven finals

Surely, then, if Alexander-Arnold decides to stay at Anfield, one would imagine that he wouldn't have to wait too much longer before he is the man heaving Champions League and Premier League trophies into the night sky, front and centre of Liverpool's celebrations.

Even when discounting Van Dijk's seemingly incredible knack for avoiding the effects of father time, the defender will turn 34 in July and is not getting any younger.

Instead, it seems that Alexander-Arnold has his heart set on taking his career in a different direction despite the lure of captaining Liverpool and living out the childhood dream he was so desperate to fulfil when he first walked through the academy doors more than two decades ago.

To see Alexander-Arnold leave less than two years after Klopp devised his path to Anfield immortality would be a bitter pill for supporters to swallow.


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