“I’m just a normal lad from Liverpool whose dream has just come true.” Located just around the corner from Anfield, you will see this quote plastered across Trent Alexander-Arnold’s mural.
Unsurprisingly, disgruntled supporters are using such words against the Reds vice-captain following reports he is now closing in on a move to Real Madrid at the end of his Liverpool contract.
An old interview with British GQ in 2020 has also started to do the rounds on social media too. "I can, yeah," Alexander-Arnold replied when asked if he saw himself spending his whole career at Liverpool, before dismissing the prospect of a future move abroad. "It is not something I have ever really thought about.
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"I have always loved Liverpool; I have always supported them. I have always played for them, so I have never had that reason to think about it.
“Still, now I wouldn't sit there in my room and daydream about playing somewhere else. Right now, I am a Liverpool player, I love the club more than anything."
‘The Scouser in the team’, Alexander-Arnold has lived the dream. He has made 349 appearances for his boyhood club to date, captaining them seven times, and won every major honour going. As things stand, he is well-placed to become a two-time Premier League champion too.
But dreams change. Somewhere along the line, playing for Liverpool and following in the footsteps of his heroes seemingly stopped being enough.
When appointed vice-captain back in July 2023, Alexander-Arnold reiterated his desire to become Reds captain one day.
“I’ve never been shy of saying what my ambitions are – it’s always been to captain this club,” he said. “This is a pathway and a stepping stone to that. It’s a role and responsibility I’m really looking forward to and I can’t wait to get the season started.”
It is something he repeated when speaking to reporters back in September, commenting on his future for the only time this season.
"I have always said I want to captain the club, that is an aim of mine and a goal of mine, (but) whether that happens is out of my hands," Alexander-Arnold said.
"Look, I have been at the club 20 years now, I have signed four or five contract extensions and none of those have been played out in public. And this one won’t be either.
"I want to be a Liverpool player this season (as a minimum) is what I will say."
In hindsight, it is easy to add further weight to the defender’s admission that such a goal was not in his hands. But it is harder to pinpoint when exactly his tone changed.
For so long, he dreamed of playing for Liverpool, winning trophies galore and captaining his boyhood club - hoping to emulate his hero, Steven Gerrard.
But he made headlines the following month when rather than repeating the same team goals, he instead declared he wants to become the first full-back to win the Ballon d'Or.
"I believe I can win the Ballon d'Or," he said. "I want to be the first full-back to ever do it. It's only the morning after you retire that you're able to look at yourself in the mirror and say you've given it everything you have got.
“It doesn't matter how many trophies you win or medals you have got, it matters about what you have given to the game and if you reach your full potential. I've heard potential being thrown around with my name since the age of six.
“If you reach that potential and you know you have and you've given everything to maximise that potential and be the player you believe you can be, which is one of the best ever, then you'll be happy. It doesn't matter how many trophies you win, I guess.
"Do I have the potential to be that? For sure. I believe it. Some people may call me deluded but I believe I can.
"(I want to be) a legend of football, someone who changed the game. A saying I have is 'don't play the game, change the game'. I want that legacy of being probably the greatest right-back ever to play football, to be honest.
"I know there have been many out there but I have got to reach for the stars. That's where I believe my ceiling can go."
Perhaps Alexander-Arnold feels he has already hit his ceiling at Liverpool. While he has won all major honours with the Reds, there is no escaping the fact that Real Madrid open those doors even further.
Since making his Liverpool debut in 2016, the Reds have won one Premier League title, the Champions League, the FIFA Club World Cup, two League Cups, the FA Cup, the European Super Cup and the Community Shield. They have also been Premier League runners-up twice, lost in two Champions League, one League Cup, two Community Shield finals and reached one other semi-final.
Over the same period, Real Madrid have won four La Liga titles, four Champions Leagues, four FIFA Club World Cup/FIFA Intercontinental Cups, three European Super Cups, the Copa del Rey and four Supercopa de Espana.
While Liverpool can now only win the Premier League title this season, Real Madrid are currently level on points with Barcelona at the top of the La Liga table, boasting a 1-0 aggregate lead in the Copa del Rey semi-finals, through to the Champions League quarter-finals and set to compete in this summer's inaugural revamped FIFA Club World Cup.
Alexander-Arnold’s Reds dream has already come true. If he needs to move elsewhere to achieve more, so be it.
The reaction in the Reds fanbase will be mixed at best, angry and upset at worst. But that is something he has had a year to prepare himself for.
Throughout the campaign, apart from speaking to reporters in September, Alexander-Arnold has kept a dignified silence about his future. In further interviews since, it has been made clear that the topic is off-limits. Such uncertainty has only added fuel to the flames.
When the time comes, Alexander-Arnold will have difficult questions to answer regarding his motivation to pursue pastures new, if he indeed departs, having only offered crumbs throughout.
For now, all onlookers can do is debate and speculate, but there is only one man who can offer the definitive answers as this lengthy saga appears to be near its end.
In hindsight, the writing has been on the wall for a while. Having already achieved his boyhood dream at 26 years of age, we should not be surprised if Alexander-Arnold chooses to pursue his additional aspirations elsewhere.
His Liverpool career has been an emotional journey, but it is his and his alone. Take away that emotion and his allegiance, and the cold truth of the matter is that it is a switch that makes sense from both a football and business point of view.
But a fanbase is nothing without its passion and cannot be separated from that emotion. While Alexander-Arnold is a boyhood Reds fan, having joined the club at the age of six, it is a long, long time since he stood alongside supporters on the terraces. He was one of them until he wasn’t.
Supporters will want him to stay put at Anfield to help knock Real Madrid off their perch, but a footballer’s career is finite. There can only be one best in the world. If you can’t beat them, join them.
