Trent Alexander-Arnold's Liverpool exit has been OBVIOUS for a while

Trent Alexander-Arnold has now been brandished a traitor by some supporters after the latest development in his contract saga.

No formal agreement between the player and Real Madrid has been confirmed, but it is widely believed that it is only a matter of time until the transfer is confirmed.

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Liverpool will retain their right-back until the end of the season as he fulfils the remainder of his contract, but after that we will have to get used to seeing him in a Los Blancos' shirt.

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Fans are angry, feeling betrayed by one of their own and apprehensive about the future of the club as Arne Slot's squad faces a summer clear-out of an extraordinary scale.

There are still plenty of reasons to be optimistic, not least because Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk could still extend their contracts.

And when you look back at how the three players have dealt with the situation, it becomes clear that Trent was always eager to consider a move away. We should've expected this.

Trent's intention to leave was staring us in the face

In order to cope with the impending loss of Trent, supporterss have been spending most of their time looking back at his interviews, trying to understand what went wrong.

From the start, the Scouse talent had been in love with the club, constantly reminding us how grateful he was to be in a position where he would be a regular starter for the side he grew up watching.

Liverpudlians dream of wearing the Reds' shirt and getting paid for the pleasure of doing so. Trent was the hometown hero who embodied what it meant to play for such an institution.

But something changed. His dreams of winning the Champions League and the Premier League, in a career that he intended to spend solely at Liverpool, have been replaced by aims of lifting the Ballon D'Or before he retires. An award focused on individual merit.

Presumably the move to Real Madrid is an attempt to make that dream more likely, although Michael Owen achieved the feat in 2001 with the Reds and Rodri won the accolade last year at Manchester City.

Nonetheless, he appears to have made his choice and, while the move has been rumoured for some time, the signs were clear from the start.

Jude Bellingham is a great friend of the right-back. The pair often meet up when working on brand deals for Adidas, and now that they're England teammates, it seems they are inseparable.

Liverpool, Real Madrid and Arsenal each spent their 2024 pre-season campaigns in the USA, and an old clip has resurfaced on social media of AFTV speaking about the time they saw Bellingham and some of the Real Madrid squad spending time with Trent.

Of course, the friendship to the two players was easily brushed off as nothing at the time, but it seems as though we could have saved ourselves from heartbreak if we had not been blinded by loyalty.

READ MORE: Trent Alexander-Arnold now set for EARLY Liverpool exit

Fans are beginning to come terms with the news, and the club will find a way to move forward. It stood firm before Trent arrived and it will remain strong now he's leaving, even if it might not feel the same over the next few months.

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