The clearest reading of Jose Mourinho’s view of Trent Alexander-Arnold came on Sunday at the Santiago Bernabeu. With the 28-year-old fit and available, the Real Madrid manager instead handed the right-back shirt to captain Federico Valverde, a central midfielder, for the win over Sevilla.
Denzel Dumfries, Madrid’s first-choice right-back, was unavailable. Alexander-Arnold stayed on the bench and did not play.
Asked about the switch afterward, Mourinho praised Valverde rather than explaining the snub.
“This is Valverde, one of the most versatile players in football. He can play anywhere and at a very high level.”
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Three starts and a 52-minute hook
The Sevilla game sat on top of a run of warning signs. Alexander-Arnold has started just three times in La Liga this season, and his most recent league outing against Villarreal on October 10 ended on the hour, when Mourinho replaced him with Vinicius Junior after 52 minutes with the game still goalless. Madrid won 1-0.
That total, three starts in eight league matches, follows a debut campaign in which the England international managed only 14 starts across the whole season after signing from Liverpool for a reported €10m fee in the summer of 2025.
The England ticket that was already punched
The playing-time problem has already cost him once this year. Alexander-Arnold was left out of England manager Thomas Tuchel’s 26-man squad for the 2026 World Cup, announced on May 22, alongside Cole Palmer and Phil Foden. England went to the tournament without him.
With Dumfries ahead of him when fit, there is little in Madrid’s day-to-day picture that points to a route back into Tuchel’s thinking.
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Five clubs and a Liverpool phone call
The transfer market has noticed. Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester City and Bayern Munich are all monitoring the situation, with his salary at Madrid the main complication for any club trying to match it.
Liverpool are the most concrete of the five. There has already been direct contact over a possible 2027 return to Anfield, with intermediaries also sounding out Arsenal, Chelsea and City. The player’s preference is not to leave in mid-season, and Madrid are not pushing him out, though they are open to a reasonable offer if the picture does not change.
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