Alexander-Arnold decision to join Real Madrid branded '100 percent ...

Liverpool have been told to continue rejecting any offer from Real Madrid to sign Trent Alexander-Arnold in the January window, though one observer warns FSG will be powerless to prevent what is now deemed a certain summer move and with Arne Slot also making a fresh plea to supporters over their treatment towards the star.

The Reds vice-captain’s deal with Liverpool expires at the end of the season and the player is now eligible to sign on a pre-contract agreement with an overseas side of his choosing ahead of a summer move. And with Real Madrid making clear their admiration for the player, fears mounting that one of their most important and influential players could depart Anfield as a free agent are growing.

However, in the wake of a crippling injury crisis, the Spanish giants are keen to strike a deal for the player now and, having had an opening offer for his signature rejected on New Year’s Eve, Real Madrid are now plotting an increased bid to bring the 33-times capped England international to the Bernabeu this month.

Their second offer for Alexander-Arnold will reportedly be worth €25m (£20.7m, $25.7m), but Paul Merson is adamant that in no way should the Reds be tempted to sell, though he has claimed a summer switch to the Bernabeu is now “100%”.

“Oh, they absolutely have to keep him. For 20 million, I think I read about 20 million pounds… Twenty million pounds in football terms is a cup of tea,” Merson said on Sky Sports.

“That’s hardly anything in Premier League football. So for me, you’ve got to keep him. He’s a special player. Let’s make the most of watching him over the next four or five months because this lad is a talent. I say he’s the best passer of a ball in the whole of the Premier League. I think his range of passing is second to none.”

Merson added: “Oh, he’ll be at Real Madrid. Oh, 100%. Yeah, I can’t see anything but Real Madrid. I think when you get your contract down to this now, which is six months, the amount of money he’d have lost over the last year and a half, where if he’d have signed a new contract, it’d have been on a lot more money.

“I think he’s got to the stage now where the 100% he’ll go. Real Madrid, as I say, very rarely don’t get who they want. And very, very, very rarely people turn Real Madrid down. So I don’t see that not happening.”

“But I’d be shocked if it happened in January. I’d be majorly shocked because where Liverpool are at the moment if they won the Premier League and the Champions League or one or the other, they’re getting that £20m anyway.”

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Arne Slot makes plea to Liverpool fans over Alexander-Arnold

Merson insists it would be a fitting way for Alexander-Arnold to leave Liverpool if they won the title, adding: “I think we have to enjoy him. And I think surely he won’t want to go to Real Madrid at this time. Liverpool has an unbelievable opportunity of winning the Premier League. The last time they won that, it was in lockdown. And it wasn’t the same.

“The Kop wasn’t forward. Anfield wasn’t forward. For them to have to pick the trophy up with no one there was a shame, really. And at the moment, unless you’re an Arsenal or a Man Utd fan, who wouldn’t want Liverpool to win the league if you didn’t support one of them teams? Because it’s been a long, long time, especially when it was in lockdown last time.”

Liverpool manager Arne Slot, meanwhile, hopes supporters continue treating Alexander-Arnold with affection and do not let rumours of a possible switch to the Bernabeu sour their relationship with him.

“Our fans have always been so supportive and have been supporting their team and their players for so many years,” Slot said, in another telling hint that the 26-year-old could depart.

“I fully trust that they will react in the right manner because we’ve been constantly together in the half-year I have been here.

“And I think that is something that stands out here that, for so many years, the team and the fans have been together.

“That has created so many special games and so many special things for this club that they don’t need me to tell them how they should react.”

Slot’s comments follow on from an update from our sources around the player earlier this week that described Real Madrid as ‘extremely confident’ he would move to the Spanish capital and with Liverpool fears over his exit growing.

Salah exit fears ramp up; ‘best’ Nottingham Forest player linked

Meanwhile, Liverpool are also facing up to the alarming prospect of also losing Mo Salah this summer with the star releasing an extremely worrying update on his future that made it clear that he wants to win the Premier League title in his “last year” at Anfield.

Revealing exactly what ‘is in his head’, Salah’s latest interview will be sure to spend shivers down Liverpool supporters’ spines.

Ben Doak is another winger who has been tipped to leave Liverpool, but in very different circumstances and after the Reds rejected a two proposals in a day for the Middlesbrough loanee.

That’s after Ipswich saw a bid worth £16m (€19.3m / $19.9m) not deemed enough to convince Liverpool to sell. And with Crystal Palace also in the mix for his signing, the Reds want Doak to continue developing on loan on Teesside and having named the fee they would demand for a move this month.

Elsewhere on the incomings front, Liverpool have reportedly set their sights on Nottingham Forest ace Elliot Anderson as a big summer target. Per the report, that’s one for down the line, with the Reds setting their sights on two alternative arrivals this month.

How Alexander-Arnold might fit in a new-look Real Madrid side