‘Unnerved him’ – Gary Neville issues stark Trent verdict after ‘insulting’ Real Madrid approach

Gary Neville appeared to express sympathy for Trent Alexander-Arnold after reports of an ‘insulting’ offer from Real Madrid for him in the days leading up to Liverpool’s showdown against Manchester United today.

As per the Daily Mail, the Reds rejected an approach from the Champions League holders for the 26-year-old this week, with the Bernabeu giants expected to be undeterred by that initial refusal amid plans to submit a formal bid of £20m to sign him this month, even though his contract expires in the summer.

Having been in the headlines for off-field affairs in recent days, the LFC vice-captain was under the microscope for his on-pitch performance today, shipping stinging criticism from Roy Keane for his display in the 2-2 draw at Anfield.

Neville lets rip over Trent transfer saga

Speaking on Sky Sports after the match, Neville was critical of Real Madrid for the nature of their reported tactics in trying to recruit Trent in January, with the pundit believing that the transfer saga won’t have been helpful for the England right-back ahead of such a crucial fixture.

The 49-year-old said: “I think the bid from Real Madrid is bad timing for him. I don’t know what’s gonna happen with Trent Alexander-Arnold, whether he’s gonna leave Liverpool and go to Real Madrid or whether he’s not, but when you’ve got that going into a big game and you’re a local lad as well, that won’t be easy having the distractions and all that noise.

“Real Madrid are an animal. I thought it was insulting from Real Madrid. They behave like that sometimes and think they can get what they want, but Liverpool are a football club of immense stature. They’re not gonna sell Trent Alexander-Arnold for £20m in January, so you’re taking the mickey a little bit.

“I think that will have probbaly unnerved him. You can imagine his agents, his family all saying ‘what’s happening, Trent?’. You can imagine that noise going on in his head before this game, which I don’t think will have been helpful.”

Trent was way below his best today

As a Man United die-hard, Neville isn’t slow to express his disdain for Liverpool, but in fairness he’s put any such allegiances aside with his objective verdict on the Trent transfer saga.

He’s right to label Real Madrid’s apparent plans to bid £20m for him this month as an insult, not just to the player but also to the Merseyside club, who’d have no logical reason for accepting such a chickenfeed offer now and losing such an influential presence for their Premier League title push this season.

We don’t know how much of an effect the off-field speculation had on the 26-year-old’s performance today, but even his most ardent backers would have to admit that the Reds’ number 66 was a shadow of his usual self against Ruben Amorim’s side.

His defending for both United goals was far from convincing, and all too often he was getting beaten on his side of the pitch by Diogo Dalot, hence why Keane said that the Englishman was ‘all over the place‘ this evening.

Let’s hope that it was simply an off-day for Trent and that we’ll see a return to his regular standards when he next plays. Fingers crossed also that he’ll soon sign a new contract and that Real Madrid’s bully-boy market tactics will be left in the mud.

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