Why Things Look Bleak for Real Madrid Defender Trent Alexander-Arnold

It's pretty safe to say that life at Real Madrid has not quite worked out for Trent Alexander-Arnold as of right now. 

Back in the summer of 2025, the right-back made the bold choice to turn his back on the club of his life, Liverpool, to move to Spain and join Los Blancos. A lot of people said he should have stayed at Liverpool and become one of their greatest ever legends, whilst others said he would be daft to turn down the biggest club in the world. 

Well, as of now, it looks like the people who held the former opinion are the most vindicated. After an injury stricken maiden season at the Bernabeu, the now 28-year old has been fit and available all season, yet is struggling for game time. 

So far this campaign, the England international has played just 344 minutes of football across all competitions, which is not even four full games of football, despite Real Madrid having played 10 games in all competitions. So, he has not even played 40% of all available minutes.  

It is pretty clear to see that Jose Mourinho prefers Denzel Dumfries in that position, and the physical attributes he brings to the table. Despite that, he is not really any better defensively than the Englishman. 

So, it is not impossible to see Alexander-Arnold ousting him out of the XI at some point this season. That is perhaps not the biggest issue he is facing in terms of game time right now. 

However, there is an elephant in the room. During the dramatic win over AS Roma on Wednesday night, Dumfries was taken off after 59 minutes of the game, but there was no like for like change. Indeed not, as the skipper Federico Valverde moved to right-back. 

Now, we know that the Uruguayan has been outspoken about not wanting to play in that role before, especially under Xabi Alonso last season. However, there was a quote from the captain that would be concerning to Alexander-Arnold. 

Speaking to the media after the Roma game (as relayed by MadridXtra) Valverde said: "I enjoyed playing as a right-back today. I'm ready to play wherever the mister wants." 

Although we know that Mourinho especially is not the manager to seek permission from a player about where they are happy playing, the fact that he has now given the green light to play there is only going to further encourage the gaffer to play him there, and as a result further reduce the game time of the former Liverpool man. 

It is clear that Valverde has the physical capabilities that Dumfries has, but is also much better defensively. This could be enough for him to play regular minutes, but we shall see. Either way, it is really not looking good for Alexander-Arnold, unfortunately.