Has Real Madrid’s gamble of £8.4m for Trent Alexander-Arnold’s free transfer paid off?
- Anweshan Ghosh
- Jul 7
- 2 min read
When Trent Alexander-Arnold decided to leave his boyhood club Liverpool on a free transfer to Real Madrid, it did raise a lot of eyebrows and left the Reds' fans absolutely fuming.
However, Madrid did pay £8.4m for the Scouse full-back when they could've easily signed him for free next month; but the Los Blancos were determined to field the right-back from the start of the Club World Cup as per Xabi Alonso’s request, which prompted them to pay the release clause of his remaining contract.
It has appeared to be a win-win situation for Liverpool to have received a small amount at least instead of being left empty-handed, whereas it was a small gamble for the Los Blancos.
Having started at every game at the Club World Cup, Trent finally managed to impress the fans in the RO16 tie against Juventus as he provided a stellar assist to Gonzalo Garcia for the match winner.
That assist was alone worth £10m for Real Madrid, as the club has received around £43m for advancing to the quarter-finals of the Club World Cup. Therefore, it seems like Xabi Alonso's gamble has paid off perfectly.
"Spawned out of nowhere!”: Raúl regen Gonzalo Garcia is breathing fire at Real Madrid
Gonzalo Garcia has been completely unstoppable at the Club World Cup, his first major tournament in his playing career at Real Madrid. The 21-year-old, replacing an ill Kylian Mbappe in the starting lineup, has managed to bag four goals and provide one assist in just five appearances in the CWC, making him the top scorer of the tournament.
His match winner against Juventus in the RO16 had earned him huge praise and even drawn comparisons with the Galacticos' legend Raúl Gonzalez, under whom the youngster spent 2 years in the Real Madrid academy.
Garcia, a graduate of La Fábrica, had shown glimpses of his potential while playing for Real Madrid Castilla. The 21-year-old talent bagged 25 goals in just 36 appearances for the youth team last season, catching the eyes of the senior team scouts, including Xabi Alonso.
Alonso has already pushed him up in the pecking order while benching the Brazilian star Rodrygo Goes in the Club World Cup so far, and after such performances, there appears to be no reason at all for the Spaniard to change his game plan for the semi-finals as well.
After his stunning displays, Gonzalo Garcia emphasized on his ambition to stay focused and keep on contributing for his club.
In a recent post-match interview, Garcia stated, “I'm very happy about the three goals and the assist, but it doesn't mean anything. The most important thing is that we're showing as a team a great attitude and great work.” (sic).
He further added, “We knew it was going to be an intense match from the start. We went from less to more. The game was played with rhythm with the ball, moving it from side to side, tiring out the opponent and trying to get to the opponent's box as much as possible to try to score more goals.” (sic.)
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