Jamie Carragher reveals Trent Alexander-Arnold feelings amid Liverpool fan backlash | OneFootball

Liverpool legend Jamie Carragher has admitted his disappointment towards Trent Alexander-Arnold as the right-back inches closer to a free transfer to Real Madrid.

Madrid have been chasing Alexander-Arnold for over a year and there has long been an awareness that he could depart for the La Liga giants this summer, but that ramped up to a new level during the international break with the revelation that he had formally agreed a contract.

It means Alexander-Arnold, who came up through the Liverpool academy, is on the cusp of leaving his boyhood side for nothing - a fact which has sparked significant frustration among the Liverpool fanbase.

"Where I'm at is that as a local player and a Liverpool fan, Liverpool are in a position where they’re competing for the league and a European Cup every year," Carragher told the Stick to Football podcast as he sought to explain the response from supporters.

"So, if you're a Liverpool fan and a local player... I'm just disappointed that he doesn’t think that this is it.

"I'm putting myself in his position where I'd be thinking that we could go level with Manchester United in league trophies, I've got another seven or eight years at Liverpool and want to get three or four ahead of them, with a couple more European Cups.

Alexander-Arnold risks angering fans / Chris Brunskill/Fantasista/GettyImages

"It seems like there's not one thing people are unhappy with – it's leaving on a free or that he should have come out and told the club earlier – people are angry for three or four different things. I'm not angry about him going on a free. In an ideal world, Liverpool would get £70m or £80m for him to reinvest, but you can't have it both ways as a supporter. If Liverpool sign someone on a free in the summer, we'd all be delighted, so does that mean that his former club should absolutely hate him?

"Also, when you're a local player you don't cost anything – Trent going on a free is like Virgil van Dijk leaving for £75m, we'd still break even."

Despite attempting to understand the motives behind Alexander-Arnold's decision, Carragher questioned whether the right-back's desire to leave a legacy on football - he recently admitted winning the Ballon d'Or is a greater goal than becoming Liverpool captain - was behind the decision.

"I think Trent is a player who looks at himself almost like a brand, and that's not just him, a lot of players do now," Carragher continued.

"I go back to an interview he gave on Sky Sports before Christmas, where he was given five options on which he'd pick as the most important for you – captain of Liverpool, win the Champions League with Liverpool, win the World Cup with England or win the Ballon d'Or – and he chose the Ballon d'Or.

"He wanted to be the first full-back that won the Ballon d'Or, and there's nothing wrong with having ambition, but that didn't go down particularly well with Liverpool supporters."