Ranking the best Alexander-Arnold replacements after Liverpool star agrees Real Madrid transfer

Trent Alexander-Arnold to Real Madrid is edging closer to completion, much to the disappointment of everyone associated with Liverpool.

The England international’s technical ability is irreplaceable in his position but Arne Slot will do his best to fill the void, potentially with the signing of a new right-back in the summer transfer window.

Here are the five best right-backs Liverpool could identify as Real Madrid-bound Alexander-Arnold’s replacement.

5) Daniel Munoz (Crystal Palace)
We always struggle to escape our Premier League bubble, with four of these five players representing a club in Our League.

There was no fuss made when Crystal Palace signed Daniel Munoz from Genk in January 2024 for a measly £6million. He has turned out to be an incredible coup and is absolutely perfect for Oliver Glasner’s three-at-the-back system, thriving as a right wing-back and adapting to Premier League football straight away.

His performances are still going under the radar but Munoz has been a monster offensively, causing carnage with his ball carrying, incredible energy and knack for frightening opposition left-backs by arriving at the back post.

Given he is already 28 years of age, a transfer to Liverpool feels pretty unlikely but if Munoz is available for the right price, Slot should definitely consider it.

4) Malo Gusto (Chelsea)
Chelsea’s willingness to sell just about anyone, coupled with a few reports claiming Liverpool fancy the player, make a compelling case for Malo Gusto to be the heir to Alexander-Arnold’s right-back spot.

A report in December said Liverpool were ‘planning a surprise raid’ on Gusto and while that did not happen in January, it could at the end of the season when academy graduate Alexander-Arnold walks for nothing.

Due to Reece James’ consistent injury problems, Gusto has played a decent amount of football since moving to Chelsea in 2023. He was a little bit shaky at the start but adapted to football in England pretty quickly and was one of the Blues’ better performers in 2023/24 under Mauricio Pochettino.

The fact he is only 21 years young is significant as well. It all comes down to how much Chelsea would be willing to sell for and considering this is Liverpool we are talking about, there is unlikely to be a big-money right-back addition in the summer. They would rather play Joe Gomez there all season than spend over £40million on one.

3) Jeremie Frimpong (Bayer Leverkusen)
Some players get away with defensive frailties due to their prowess going forward – as Liverpool fans know very well with Alexander-Arnold. Bayer Leverkusen’s Jeremie Frimpong is in a similar camp, though he is obviously not as technically gifted as the England man.

The only player based outside of England in this top five, Frimpong has been perpetually linked with a transfer to the Premier League for the last three summer windows, with Liverpool, Chelsea, Manchester United and Arsenal all being strongly linked at one point or another.

Frimpong came through the Manchester City youth academy, joining the club at the age of nine. He never played for the first team before joining Celtic in 2019. He was a roaring success in Scotland and earned a transfer to German giants Leverkusen two years later. The Netherlands international has not looked back since and is reportedly available for as little as £34million thanks to a release clause in his contract.

This makes him the most cost-effective signing on this list and if he doesn’t come to Liverpool, Frimpong is destined to join one of their Premier League rivals. Maybe Chelsea will sign him if Gusto moves on.

MORE LIVERPOOL FEATURES…
👉 The outrageous statistics of Mohamed Salah: Most goal involvements in a Premier League season
👉 Liverpool implode or win title with peak Spursiness possible in top 10 least forlorn Premier League games
👉 Man City FFP: Liverpool, Man Utd, even Spurs among new winners of reallocated trophies on alternate timeline

2) Pedro Porro (Tottenham Hotspur)
In terms of like-for-like, there is probably not a better candidate for the right-back spot at Anfield than Spurs’ Pedro Porro. While he is not on the same level technically – very few are – he is close enough. He possesses a wicked delivery, has a decent strike on him and certainly has that gorgeous Hollywood diagonal in his locker. Importantly, along with all of those technical bonuses, he can defend better than Alexander-Arnold.

The obvious stumbling block for Liverpool if they decide to target Porro this summer is Spurs’ desire to keep hold of the 25-year-old. We don’t know for a fact that they want to keep Porro because there has been no interest from elsewhere, so we are just making a fair assumption.

Regardless of Spurs’ transfer stance, the Spaniard would cost a lot of money and when there are cheaper options available and an elephant in the room that we have not yet discussed but are going to in a second… Liverpool are very unlikely to pursue this transfer.

1) Conor Bradley (Liverpool)
Liverpool probably won’t look beyond a player they already have at the club and we can’t blame them in the slightest. Conor Bradley has made every argument for the other four players a complete waste of time really. Sorry about that.

Indeed, the 21-year-old is the elephant in the room in this feature. He is genuinely fantastic. The fact Liverpool don’t seem to miss Alexander-Arnold when he is injured says everything you need to know about the young right-back. Signing a right-back would hardly be a waste of money but with Bradley ready to step in for the full-time role after being introduced as a squad player, we would not put it past Arne Slot fully relying on him while having natural centre-backs Jarell Quansah and Joe Gomez as back-up.

Bradley’s introduction to the Reds first team has been just about perfect. The pressure of being a regular starter could have hindered his development but being eased in has worked wonders – while playing very well and endearing yourself to fans clearly hasn’t done him any harm.

Knowing Liverpool as the stingy club they are, they might actually do what we think is best. There’s a first time for everything!