I thought of Kevin De Bruyne when I heard Monday morning’s confirmation of Trent Alexander-Arnold’s plan to leave Liverpool at the end of the season. I thought of De Bruyne when I saw people, claiming to be Liverpool supporters, accusing Alexander-Arnold of betrayal.
I’m at a stage of life where I tend to glorify the players of yesteryear and so I think of footballers like Colin Bell, Mike Summerbee, Francis Lee, Paul Lake and Georgi Kinkladze, as City’s greatest players but I still believe that De Bruyne is better than all of them, the best ever to pull on the famous sky-blue shirt, the best City player I have ever seen.
And yet a few weeks ago, De Bruyne was informed that, after everything he had achieved in Manchester, all the titles he had won, the Premier Leagues and the Champions League, he was surplus to requirements at the Etihad and that he would not be offered an extension to his contract. His pride was hurt, obviously, but he seemed heartbroken to be leaving a club he loved, too.
That’s football. Players are commodities. They are business decisions. They are pieces of meat. I don’t blame City for moving him on. He has been extremely well renumerated so it is hardly a sob-story and I can see that De Bruyne’s talent is fading. City need to rebuild. They need to refresh their team. Even though De Bruyne is a living legend, it is the right decision.
City fans love him and they have made that plain. I’m sure he will get a great send-off both at the FA Cup Final and in City’s remaining league games. But I don’t see any protests about his impending departure. Most people think it’s the right move for the club. De Bruyne has reached the end of his useful life at City so the answer is simple: see ya.
The point is, we want it both ways with footballers. We reserve the right to discard them if they are not the same after an injury, if they stop scoring, if they get slow, when they get old, if a better model comes along, if the new manager doesn’t fancy them. It happened, poignantly, to Robbie Fowler, one of Liverpool’s greatest players, when he was sold to Leeds United in November 2001.
Sone Liverpool fans have accused Trent Alexander-Arnold of betrayal after it was confirmed he is looking to leave the club
It is like Kevin De Bruyne leaving Manchester City – fans want the right to discard them but expect loyalty back
There is no talk of betrayal then, and it would have happened to Alexander-Arnold eventually
When that happens, wherever it happens, there is no talk of betrayal then. There is no talk of family or of duty or of loyalty or of deception. It is accepted. It is part of the game. It is what is best for the club.
Sooner or later, it would have happened to Alexander-Arnold, too, just like it happened to Joe Hart at City, and Angel Di Maria at Real Madrid and Jaap Stam at Manchester United and Andy Carroll at Newcastle United and countless other players who didn’t want to leave clubs that forced them out.
We are still oddly patriarchal about the player-club relationship, as if it is some relic of feudal times, as if we cannot shake ourselves free of the idea that this is somehow about master and servant.
And so Alexander-Arnold’s decision to leave is couched in pejorative terms like ingratitude and betrayal and disloyalty even though he has given 20 years of his life to a club and a set of supporters he adores.
None of that means I agree with statements such as ‘Alexander-Arnold doesn’t owe Liverpool anything’. I think he owes them plenty. I think he owes them for the care and attention they have given to his development, the brilliant coaching at the club’s academy that has helped him progress and the faith shown in him by men like Jurgen Klopp, who gave him his chance in the first team.
He owes Liverpool for the life they have given him and his family and he owes the fans for the adoration they have lavished on him and the emotions they have sparked in him in moments of joy and celebration. Everything about how he behaves suggests that Alexander-Arnold is deeply appreciative of all that has been done for him.
But the club and the fans owe Alexander-Arnold, too. He has given them moments of joy and abandon and pure exultation and sheer, wonderful escapism that will last forever, moments that will sit high in the iconography of a club even with Liverpool’s glorious achievements.
I’m thinking, obviously, about the corner taken against Barcelona at Anfield in that Champions League semi-final second leg in May 2019, the corner that fooled the Barca defence and set up Divock Origi to score the goal that sealed one of the greatest comebacks any of us have ever witnessed on one of the greatest nights English football has ever witnessed.
Alexander-Arnold does owe Liverpool – including for the faith shown in him by the likes of Jurgen Klopp
He also owes Liverpool for the life they have given him and his family up to this point
His greatest moments do not deserve to be tarnished by idiotic accusations of ingratitude
It was one of the most audacious and clever and brilliantly executed pieces of skill I’ve ever seen. And it was just part of a groaning portfolio of sumptuous passes and curling, arrowing free-kicks that have made Alexander-Arnold such a wonderful player to watch during his time at Anfield.
Those memories are gifts that keep on giving. Those memories do not deserve to be tarnished by idiotic accusations of ingratitude. The truth is that Alexander-Arnold was good for Liverpool and Liverpool was good for him.
He has not broken his contract or agitated to leave ahead of time or refused to play or derailed Liverpool’s title challenge or bad-mouthed the club or the city. He has given everything, right until the end, and made a huge contribution to the winning of a record-equalling 20th league title.
He should be departing for the challenge of playing abroad for Real Madrid, garlanded with thanks. And, by many match-going Liverpool supporters, he will be. I’m sad that Alexander-Arnold is leaving, because I loved watching him play at English league grounds, but I know I’m lucky I got to see him shine for as long as I did.
Hopes fading for Hamilton
I still hope Lewis Hamilton’s move to Ferrari provides him with the platform he craves to win his eighth world drivers’ title but the chances of that happening are looking increasingly forlorn.
A spat between a driver and his team is not unknown but for Hamilton to aim a public and brutally disparaging barb at Ferrari during the Miami Grand Prix by saying ‘have a tea break while you’re at it’ to ridicule their decision-making process is the type of insult to professionalism and competence that both sides may find it hard to recover from.
The chances of Lewis Hamilton winning an eighth world title at Ferrari are looking more and more slim after a fallout in Miami
Harry Kane, meanwhile, has won his first trophy in the professional game with Bayern Munich
Harry gets his hands on gold
Only a curmudgeon – or Arsenal supporters – would begrudge Harry Kane, who won the Bundesliga with Bayern Munich on Sunday, his first trophy in the professional game.
Kane is weighed down with individual awards for scoring feats already but his triumph in Germany is a reward for one of England’s greatest goalscorers and a brilliant professional.
