Trent Alexander-Arnold boos divide opinion but highlight simple truth about Liverpool exit

Football - it's a game of opinions. The kind of tribalism which makes clubs like so special is embedded within the sport.

But just as fans can quickly fall in love with a player, they can soon fallout. , 'the scouser in our team', will soon longer be able to call Anfield his home, as he's done for his entire professional career.

- and we all know where he's going. Alexander-Arnold hasn't been able to resist Real Madrid's pull and has rejected the chance to stay at his boyhood club.

It was a story which has been brewing over the course of and now it's boiled over. When his name and number, a sound so often cheered by the Anfield faithful down the years, was read out in the second half of with , a chorus of boos .

Alexander-Arnold's every touch was met with the same swell of noise, as some - and it's important to stress 'some' - Liverpool fans made their feelings known that he's no longer welcome at Anfield. Cue the opinion.

, , and plenty more figures have had their say on the matter, so we've asked the Mirror Football team were Liverpool fans right to boo Alexander-Arnold?

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John Cross

I was at Anfield and I was stunned by the reaction. There was a smattering of boos when his name was read out among the substitutes but it was overwhelming when he came on.

And I didn't like it. I regard Liverpool fans as some of the best and most passionate around. They are proud of their club, their city and their homegrown players. I love that and respect it so much. But this still took my breath away.

It is not as if Trent Alexander-Arnold is leaving to join a direct rival on a free transfer. It’s hardly Sol Campbell. He has won the lot with Liverpool, been a fantastic player and now wants to go to .

Of course we're not allowed to tell Liverpool fans what to think, according to Jamie Carragher (who is one of my favourite pundits on screen and in print, by the way).

is all about opinions. Maybe Jamie's right: we can't tell fans what to think. I grew up as a fan but I don't pretend to be anymore.

But we are allowed an opinion on their reactions. Otherwise journalists, pundits and ex-players might as well pack up and go home. And I think it was way too much.

Were Liverpool fans right to boo Trent Alexander-Arnold? Have your say in the .

Andy Dunn

There is a simple truth about what happened at Anfield on Sunday. Fans were not booing one of their own, they were not booing a Liverpool player… they were booing a Real Madrid player.

Trent Alexander-Arnold might still be under contract at Anfield but the emotional contract has finished. He might as well walk around town in his Los Blancos gear. What is truly baffling is not that Alexander-Arnold was jeered but that a lot of people involved in football were surprised he was jeered.

Really? I've actually heard ex-pros say he will go down as an Anfield legend and will be celebrated as one of the greats. No he won't. Look, it's a super-exciting move for a wonderful footballer and a nice guy. It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and who can blame him for taking it?

But that's not the way the football fan's mind works. The Liverpool fan sees a player in his absolute prime walking away from the club because he thinks he will have a better time at another club.

They have to swallow the fact that Alexander-Arnold had the choice of playing for Liverpool or one of their main European rivals next season - and he chose the latter. Simple as that.

What did you expect fans to do? Organise a whip-round and buy him a leaving pressie? The booing was entirely predictable - and entirely acceptable.

Mike Walters

Fans who pay top dollar to follow their team are entitled to clap, boo, cheer or sit in monastic silence as they wish. But I am surprised at Liverpool supporters for turning on one of their own - because in my experience, booing has never been part of the Anfield playbook.

Even in the barren years of the 1990s, when the so-called Spice Boys promised much but delivered little, I don't remember the Kop giving their under-achievers grief when they wore the red shirt.

Yes, they felt like spurned lovers when eloped to or, gong back almost half a century, when left for with a European Cup winner's medal and a title in his back pocket. But to single out an individual at Anfield, while he still wears the Liver bird crest on his jersey, is conduct which is simply un-Liverpool-like by nature.

Neil McLeman

Trent Alexander-Arnold is allowed to leave Anfield on a free transfer - and Liverpool fans are allowed to let him know how they feel about it. I don't understand this faux outrage about the booing.

Why would you want to tell people, who pay a lot of hard-earned money to support their club, how to react towards a player leaving their club? I don't blame the full-back for wanting to join Real Madrid. They are the biggest club in the and he will win more trophies there than with the Reds.

But let's be clear, there is a cost to any free transfer - and Liverpool are paying it by Alexander-Arnold running down his contract and leaving for nothing. Good luck to him - but it doesn't mean Reds fans have to be happy about it.

James Whaling

To me, Real Madrid are a special case. They are the gold standard club and virtually impossible for any player in world football to turn down, even one as emotionally attached to his current employers as Trent Alexander-Arnold.

As a neutral looking in, Trent has won it all with Liverpool. He has helped propel his boyhood club to multiple league championships, a European Cup and restored them to the very top of English football as the most decorated institution the country has ever seen.

On a human level, I don't think he deserved the reception he got at Anfield. I think he is well within his rights to seek a new challenge in a different culture at the biggest football club in the world alongside his best mate in the game.

But that is easy for me to say, because I'm not a Liverpool fan. Football fans shouldn't have to apply logic. Supporting your local team is a beautifully tribal thing. Two years ago today, I vociferously told players of my club they weren't fit to wear the shirt after a 4-0 defeat. Six days later I was lauding them as heroes after the greatest comeback in the history of the playoffs.

I'd be a hypocrite to criticise Liverpool fans for speaking with their hearts. When the dust has settled, I think Trent will be remembered fondly at Anfield. He will be welcomed back with open arms when his playing days are over. But the dust hasn't settled. And the boos were to be expected.

Tom Victor

One wonders how much Harry Kane's exit has impacted the reception received by Trent Alexander-Arnold at Liverpool. Kane showed it's possible to leave for a team outside the and secure a hefty transfer fee for your club, and it appears much of the animosity towards the Reds right-back comes from his failure to tick both boxes.

A number of fans have been left frustrated by the defender running down his contract, stopping Liverpool earning fair value for a player who would be worth a fortune in the open market. Still, you feel there’s also a minority who would have only been happy if Alexander-Arnold chose to spend his entire career at his boyhood club.

From a personal perspective, though, booing a player for the simple act of leaving is something I would never do - especially a player who has continued to give his all right until the end, even if there have been some under-par performances this term. Emotions are understandably running high right now, but I get the sense that, once some time has passed, more than a few of those booing Alexander-Arnold will be able to see the bigger picture.

Scott Trotter

There's no real correct answer over whether Trent Alexander-Arnold should be booed. The Liverpool fans pay their money and support their team and the academy product has already revealed he is no longer part of that. Any return would see an intimidating reception so it should probably be no surprise that it has started with just a few games remaining.

The reception in many ways shows the strength of feeling towards the Liverpool native. For those in the ground the Reds are as big as it gets and it no longer seems that Alexander-Arnold sees things that way.

Now, it's not a response that is going to help the club in the last couple of weeks of competition, but with the league sewn up will that really matter? The full-back is still a Liverpool player for the moment and is not likely to be sparked into is best by a grim reception. In some ways it may even make Alexander-Arnold feel more vindicated in his decision.

Football is an emotional game, and it will be tough for the player to go through the experience but it is part and parcel of living out the dreams of millions. But hopefully, when it's all said and done there will be begrudging respect in amongst any spite because he's had a journey to celebrate at the club.

Dan Marsh

Let's face it, Trent Alexander-Arnold was always going to get a hostile reception this weekend. That's just football, isn't it? If a player decides he no longer wants to play for your club then the adulation stops. Is that harsh? Maybe. But that's been the way for as long as I can remember.

For the majority of football fans, you're either with us or you're against us. And Trent, quite literally, will be against Liverpool in the next season when football's worst kept secret is finally confirmed and he's doing kick-ups in an all white number in the Bernabeu in the coming weeks.

Both Alexander-Arnold and Liverpool have benefitted from their 20-year association. Alexander-Arnold is fully within his rights to pursue a new challenge abroad - and Liverpool fans reserve the right to react how they see fit.

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