Alexander-Arnold confirms departure from Liverpool after 20 years

LONDON: Trent Alexander-Arnold sat down, took a deep breath and uttered the words many at Liverpool knew would be coming.

“After 20 years at Liverpool Football Club,” he said into a camera, “I will be leaving at the end of the season.”

Alexander-Arnold didn’t mention his next destination when confirming his imminent departure from Liverpool on his social media accounts but the England right back is widely expected to move to Real Madrid on a free transfer.

Alexander-Arnold, who joined Liverpool at the age of 6 and has won every major honor with the club, said it was “easily the hardest decision I’ve ever made in my life.”

He has announced it barely a week after clinching a second Premier League title with the Reds, pushing it onto 20 English top-flight championships — tied for the record with Manchester United.

“This club has been my whole life — my whole world — for 20 years,” the 26-year-old Alexander-Arnold wrote. “From the academy right through until now, the support and love I have felt from everyone inside and outside of the club will stay with me forever. I will forever be in debt to you all.

“But, I have never known anything else and this decision is about experiencing a new challenge, taking myself out of my comfort zone and pushing myself both professionally and personally. I’ve given my all every single day I’ve been at this club, and I hope you feel like I’ve given back to you during my time here.”

While Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk have recently signed new two-year deals with Liverpool, there was lingering uncertainty over the future of Alexander-Arnold, who was also out of contract at the end of this season.

Some fans will be unhappy he has run down his contract and not allowed Liverpool to get any money for one of its star assets.

“I completely understand that the news will disappoint a lot of people, will anger people, it will make them upset,” Alexander-Arnold told Liverpool’s official website. “Obviously that went into the decision as well — it’s something you don’t want to do, you don’t want to ever have these moments where you feel like you’re letting a lot of people down, you’re disappointing a lot of people.

“But I’ve had to make a decision for me, it’s as simple as that. It’s a difficult one, it’s one that has played on my mind for a long time but being able now to get it off my chest will feel like a weight is lifted.”

Alexander-Arnold said he hasn’t spoken publicly about his future in recent months because he wanted “to keep my full focus on the team’s best interests, which was securing No. 20.”