Trent Alexander-Arnold’s exit from Liverpool will cost him the unconditional support of fans, according to former Reds defender Jamie Carragher.
The 26-year-old confirmed on Monday he would be ending his 20-year association with the club this summer, when he is widely expected to be joining Spanish giants Real Madrid.
Carragher, a one-club man who made 737 appearances for the Reds in all competitions, says Alexander-Arnold’s contribution to the club “will never be diminished”, but believes it will change how he is remembered and thought of by fans.
• READ: Alexander-Arnold explains timing of announcement – and when he told LFC
“Players are loved even more when they genuinely mean it when they say they do not want to play for anyone else,” Carragher wrote in a column in The Telegraph.
“If that image of the home-grown talent living the dream is an illusion, people feel let down.
“By leaving Liverpool, Alexander-Arnold is making it harder for his own club to win its 21st league title and seventh European Cup. That is bound to stir emotions.
• READ: Trent “remembers nothing” from United draw – ‘mind a blur’ after Real bid
“With Monday’s statement, the unconditional support Alexander-Arnold enjoyed from the Kop when he was fully committed to Liverpool has gone.”
Alexander-Arnold said opting to leave Liverpool was “easily the hardest decision” he had made in his life.
Two of his current team-mates, Curtis Jones and Cody Gakpo, described him as a “legend” in Instagram posts on Monday.
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