Liverpool will THANK Richard Hughes for massive Trent Alexander-Arnold gamble

Liverpool fans have been at the mercy of Trent Alexander-Arnold for this entire season.

Whilst he, Mo Salah and Virgil van Dijk are often lumped into the same proposition due to all of their contracts expiring at the end of this season.

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But Alexander-Arnold’s scenario is different to the other two. Salah and Van Dijk are both 32 and in positions of existential importance to any football club - the ace attacker and the star defender.

Trent, meanwhile, is 25, the world’s best passer of a football, Liverpool born and bred, and operates at right-back.

Therefore the recent Marca report that he may have finally made up his mind and wants to move to Real Madrid has been met with ‘let him go, who cares?’ and ‘but daddy, I love him!’ responses, with little inbetween.

Emotion is understandably going to be rife with whatever happens to Alexander-Arnold as he’s the best homegrown talent the club have had since Steven Gerrard and arguably one of the best of all time.

But for Liverpool to be successful and remain successful, emotion has to take a backseat.

Should Liverpool let Alexander-Arnold go?

Sporting director Richard Hughes has a seismic job on his hands. He could, realistically, need to field a new right-back, left-back, centre-back, centre-forward and right-winger next season - and that’s necessity signings, not desired ones.

Liverpool are the seventh-highest revenue generating team in the world and that will probably get even higher with the on-pitch success at current, yet signings these days almost always require sacrifice.

In American sports, as Liverpool owners FSG know all too well, there’s an emphasis on ‘positional value’. Exactly what it says on the tin, this is the idea of paying a premium for players in positions that will always make the most difference. In American Football, that’s the quarterback, the offensive tackle and the edge rusher.

In our football, this goes back to what was said earlier - the ace attacker, the star defender, and you can add the defensive midfielder into the mix these days.

Real Madrid and Manchester City are the two teams who have dominated European football over the past decade. Madrid did this whilst having the world’s best attacker (Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema), best defender (Sergio Ramos, sorry), and best midfield (that Casemiro-Luka Modric-Toni Kroos trio) for a period.

Manchester City did it with the world’s best attacking and defensive midfielders at various points (Kevin de Bruyne and Rodri, respectively).

What they didn’t really have, or didn’t place impetus on, was the world’s best right-back.

Liverpool have the world’s best attacker and the long-standing world’s best defender on their books right now. And they are already planning for their replacements, with Omar Marmoush and Rayan Cherki reportedly close to signing, whilst Jarrad Branthwaite has been floated as a defensive option.

This is alongside a re-approach for Martin Zubimendi who is apparently number one on Liverpool’s transfer targets list.

If Richard Hughes is as good at his job as suggested, paying a right-back - the best right-back in the world, mind - league-leading money wouldn’t cross his mind.

Individual players are necessary but this is a team sport and a club is only as good as its squad. Liverpool have to prioritise that.

Hughes may be about to make a decision that will cost him good faith in the short term but, if done correctly, would make him a club legend in the future.

And if it starts with losing a right-back for two new attackers, a midfielder and a centre-back, how could it ever be a bad decision?

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