If Trent Alexander-Arnold decides to leave the team, Arne Slot will be eager to take his place.

A top defender is reportedly of interest to Liverpool in order to replace Trent Alexander-Arnold, should he decide to leave the team at the end of the 2024–25 campaign.

The 26-year-old Alexander-Arnold is presently in the last year of his contract, which ends in June 2025.

He can talk about a “pre-contract” arrangement with a foreign team starting on January 1, 2025. Real Madrid is reportedly interested in signing the defender.

Arne Slot, the manager of Liverpool, has acknowledged that if the issue is not fixed by the conclusion of the season, it may “bother” him, but he is still at ease about it.

At his press conference last week, the Reds manager stated, “These players are used to being linked with all the top clubs on a daily basis.”

“Whether or not they have contracts. You don’t do credit to how strong their minds are and what they are used to if you believe that their interests are disturbing them. This is our responsibility.

“They connected me with a lot of clubs last year while I was at Feyenoord, and even before that. This is a component of the world in which we exist.

“You just concentrate on the tasks at hand. Maybe that would be hard for you if you’re only 17 or 18 years old. However, Trent has won the Champions League as well as the league.

Mo [Salah] and Virgil [van Dijk] are the same. That shouldn’t be an issue for them to execute, in my opinion. Put another way, we can see that right now since they are performing incredibly well.

With more questions than answers surrounding the potential departure of the right-back, Liverpool are said to be keen on signing a French international if their academy graduate was to leave the club, according to Spanish outlet Fichajes.

Even though Jules Kounde only joined Barcelona 27 months ago in a £41.7 million transfer from Sevilla, the article claims that Liverpool is fond of him.

Kounde is at ease in possession, much like the most of Barcelona players, although he is a more “old fashioned” defender than Alexander-Arnold. Kounde has also represented his country and club as a center back.

Having only two assists in 35 La Liga games last season, he has not been able to deliver as many as he would have liked thus far in his career.

The 2022 World Cup finalist’s contract with the Catalan team runs through June 2027, so the Reds might have to shell out a sizable sum to sign him.