PHILADELPHIA – Change can be tough, especially when it involves moving to a new club in a country where you don’t know the language. For Trent Alexander-Arnold, a lifelong Liverpool player who made his Premier League debut at the club when he was only 17, he’s experiencing that after his move to Real Madrid in La Liga.
There was a time when English players rarely left the Premier League, but recently, there has been more of an uptick in young English stars making the jump. Jadon Sancho found success at Borussia Dortmund, Jude Bellingham is starring at Real Madrid, and even Harry Kane is now leading the line for Bayern Munich. Alexander-Arnold is the latest in the list to join those players in his summer move to Real Madrid. A move that was expedited with Los Blancos paying over $11 million to Liverpool to make it happen ahead of the Club World Cup. The extra time is paying dividends for the Englishman to settle in. But now, as Real Madrid turn toward the round of 16 with a match facing Juventus on the horizon on Tuesday, it’s time to shift focus to trophies.
“The settling-in period is now done, and it’s about kicking on and being the best player that I can be and giving the best with the team, and helping the team win as many games as possible, starting with this competition,” Alexander-Arnold said.
No matter what competition Real Madrid are in, the goal is to win it, and while that’s not foreign to Alexander-Arnold from his time at Liverpool, being at Real so far has only helped enforce that. Despite only joining on June 1 during FIFA’s special summer transfer window to ensure teams participating in the Club World Cup could add new players, Alexander-Arnold is fitting in and credit must be given to the staff for the extra attention to make that transition a smooth one in less than a month.
“The manager speaks to me a lot individually to make sure I understand everything that gets said, as other meetings are in Spanish. So he goes out of his way, the staff go out of their way to make sure I understand everything in the game plan,” Alexander-Arnold said. “And you step out onto the pitch knowing that it’s the same no matter what club you play for, in international football, you step out there and you’re playing against a team and you’ve got a job to do.”
It has been a welcoming environment for Alexander-Arnold, and it also helps that he has a fellow countryman in Jude Bellingham in the squad. Having a key role in Xabi Alonso’s system and seeing what wing-backs like Jeremie Frimpong have done under the Spanish manager, Alexander-Arnold will be a key part in helping Real Madrid back to a La Liga title. The on-pitch transition isn’t the only part of leaving the Premier League for La Liga, as off the pitch, there’s a culture difference to adjust to in Spain.
“The language is the most difficult thing, but it’s going to take a little bit of time to adapt. I felt confident coming into the game, I felt comfortable. It was always going to take maybe a couple of games to get used to playing with new players, with new lads in a new environment, and with a new coach,” Alexander-Arnold said. “That was always going to happen, but I’m happy with the way I’ve settled in. The lads have been very welcoming and made me feel at home, made me feel comfortable, and allow me to play the way I like to play.”
With so much in flux for Real Madrid as they move on from Carlo Ancelotti, insight like this from Alexander-Arnold makes it easy to see why Alonso was able to build the team he did at Bayer Leverkusen. It’s a different type of challenge managing the Galacticos, but a key part of management is still making players feel at home so that they want to give their all for you. That’s happening for Real Madrid while young players like Arda Guler and Gonzalo Garcia are getting chances to show what they can do.
A lot will need to go right in order to overtake Barcelona and regain the La Liga crown, but winning silverware this summer would be a step in the right direction to showing that they’re on the right path.
