Michael Owen gives unsurprising verdict on Trent Alexander-Arnold leaving Liverpool

Michael Owen insists he's got "no problem" with Trent Alexander-Arnold's decision to quit Liverpool this summer. The right-back has allowed his contract to wind down and is expected to join Real Madrid.

Alexander-Arnold was a product of the Reds academy and had spent two decades at Anfield, winning every honour there was to win. He helped claim the club's first ever Premier League title as well as the Champions League, but underlined the desire to seek a new challenge.

His status as a homegrown player was held against him when it became increasingly obvious that he wasn't going to remain with Liverpool. He's opted against becoming a one-club man with the appeal of Real, where Jude Bellingham is a star, too much to turn down.

Owen admits he struggles to see why the 26-year-old should have to shoulder any criticism following his exploits on Merseyside with the striker himself swapping Liverpool for Madrid during his own career.

He said: "Who can criticise him, really? I know there will be one or two people that will but he's been there, seen it, done it. Won absolutely everything the game has got to offer for Liverpool. If he wants to go and try something new for his family, for him, just to do something different in his life, I've got no problem.

"It's different. That's the beauty of it. You go to a different country. It's different food, different language, different weather. It's different football, new stadium, it's in a white kit and not red. There is a lot of difference."

Alexander-Arnold had claimed that leaving Liverpool was "easily the hardest decision I’ve ever made in my life" but the right-back was keen to "experience a new challenge, taking myself out of my comfort zone". Owen though admits that the tribalism of football means that the outgoing Reds star may face the brunt of some anger.

"It's easy for me to say and a lot fans will be screaming at the tele," Owen added. "But if I was a Liverpool fan I would be saying: 'Thank you very much for all your service, you've been incredible, you've won everything. Thank you and good luck, we wish you well'. Of course that's what I think and we're talking football, it's different to anything else.

"If you get a promotion, if you could do in your [position], everybody says 'well done, Matt (Chapman, his interviewer), congratulations'. But if it's football, no, you're a traitor and this and that and the other, which is quite sad because he's done everything."

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