With right-back Trent Alexander set to leave the club after the end of the current season, Liverpool manager Arne Slot urged the fans to not show any negative reactions towards the players when he takes to the field against second-placed Arsenal in the weekend. This will be the England international’s first appearance in front of fans after he announced his intention to leave the club earlier this week.
“I think we are all disappointed but is the first one also who said that he would prefer us as a team and us as a club not to be too much distracted by this announcement. So I am hoping that all the energy on Sunday goes to the players and to the support of our fans and as less as possible to Trent. Unless it is positive and then they can do whatever they want,” Slot said on Friday.
The manager also said that Conor Bradley is likely to start ahead of Trent on Sunday while also refused to comment on the possibility of the player heading to Real Madrid — his widely reported next destination — ahead of the Club World Cup starting in mid-June.
“Do you know where he is going?” Slot said with a smile. “He hasn’t said anything about it himself — the only thing he has said is that he’s going to leave the club. For me it’s impossible to comment on where he is going and if that is a club that’s going to play in the Club World Cup — you see on my smile that we both know where he is going to but it hasn’t been said yet — so that’s impossible for me to comment on,” he said.
In the video announcing his departure, Alexander Arnold acknowledged his decision to leave will “anger” some Liverpool supporters, who might feel unhappy he has run down his contract and not allowed the club to get any money for one of its star assets.
