Real Madrid tipped to sign Alexander-Arnold and Liverpool teammate: ‘Perfect sense’

Jason Soutar
Liverpool trio Virgil van Dijk, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Mohamed Salah celebrate a goal
Liverpool trio Virgil van Dijk, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Mohamed Salah celebrate a goal

Real Madrid should add Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk to their summer wishlist, with Trent Alexander-Arnold their top transfer target, says Tony Cascarino.

Van Dijk, Alexander-Arnold and Mohamed Salah are all out of contract at the end of the season and can negotiate a pre-contract with foreign clubs.

Salah has been vocal about his contract situation in an attempt to get Liverpool moving, while Van Dijk and Alexander-Arnold have been very quiet.

Alexander-Arnold said in September that none of his previous contract extensions were made public and that won’t change now. It has gone quiet on the contract front but links to Real Madrid have been relentless.

The England right-back said: “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.”

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Salah has taken a different approach, putting the ball in the club’s court by saying he wants to stay but as things stand is in the final six months of his Reds career.

While there has been little to no talk about Van Dijk’s future, Alexander-Arnold is reportedly Real Madrid’s top target.

The European champions tested the water on New Year’s Eve with a derisory £20million bid for the 26-year-old, which was unsurprisingly rejected.

Madrid apparently did this out of respect to the Premier League club, as they offered them something instead of taking him for nothing at the end of 2024/25.

A move to the Spanish capital seems inevitable but Los Blancos should go one further and sign Van Dijk on a free transfer as well.

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This is according to Tony Cascarino, who reckons the signing of the Liverpool captain “makes perfect sense”.

“It would make perfect sense for Real Madrid to sign Virgil van Dijk as well as Trent Alexander-Arnold from Liverpool when their contracts expire this summer,” Cascarino told The Times.

“Real need a high-class centre-back and Van Dijk is one of the top five in the world. Carlo Ancelotti likes to work with experienced players and at 33, Van Dijk can play at the highest level for maybe another four years.

“In recent times, Real’s transfer policy has shifted to successfully target free agents, including Antonio Rudiger, David Alaba and Kylian Mbappe. It seems like a no-brainer.”

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