Trent Alexander-Arnold's free transfer to Real Madrid would barely qualify as "the worst-kept secret in soccer," given that it's hardly been a secret. Neither side could officially say anything until now, but everyone knew. We've already looked at how Real Madrid might use Alexander-Arnold to fix some of this season's problems. But what about the team he leaves behind? Y'know, the Premier League champions Liverpool?
What Liverpool won't do is try to replace Alexander-Arnold. There isn't any way to do that. He is a unicorn of a player, which is why Real Madrid are so thirsty to bring him to Spain. A right-back who can whip in lethal crosses from wide, or tuck into midfield and spray 60-70 yard cross-field missiles to marauding wingers, or crash in free kicks from 30 yards are found in places that are "through the looking glass." They can't be mass-produced.
Liverpool greatly benefitted from having a toy in that position that no other team had, building an attack around his skills and the pure energy of Andrew Robertson on the other side. They could only do that having those players.
But there are a lot of ways to skin a cat, as long as one has the proper plastic laid on the floor, I suppose, given that my cat-skinning experience is quite low. Nikola Jokic is a unicorn, too. But a team doesn't have to have a Jokic to win an NBA title, as has been well proven. Liverpool will almost certainly reimagine the position.
Trent Alexander-Arnold's replacement is ready-made in Connor Bradley
The easiest and most likely solution is to hand the job to Connor Bradley, who has been Alexander-Arnold's understudy for two seasons now. There are serious questions about his inexperience and especially his durability. He has battled injury issues the past two seasons, as his 21-year-old body struggles with the rigors of regular Premier League play. Liverpool will need to find someone who can take a good portion of starts to spell him, just as they did with Kostas Tsimikas on the other side with Robertson this season.
Bradley plays a more traditional fullback style, and does one thing that Arne Slot really likes that wasn't really in Alexander-Arnold's bag. Given how wide Slot likes his wingers to play, his fullbacks are usually charged with making underlapping runs instead of overlapping ones, i.e. moving inside of the attacking winger and between the opposition's full back and center back. Bradley consistently makes this run in tandem with Mo Salah out wide. Alexis Mac Allister's goal against Real Madrid in the Champions League in November is an excellent example, as Bradley first runs into the box in that area and occupies Madrid defenders before pulling back to the edge of the box to set up Mac Allister.
It's an area Alexander-Arnold would get to occasionally, but not as consistently as Bradley charges into it. Bradley is just a little more mobile.
Bradley is considered the more defensively sound of the two, though there hasn't been as much of evidence of that this season (crunching Kylian Mbappe into the seventh row aside). Whoever takes over will still be tasked with one of the harder jobs around, one that Alexander-Arnold didn't quite get enough appreciation for. That is that they constantly have to defend on an island, as they'll barely get any support from Salah, who has license to remain high and wide and poised to counter. Alexander-Arnold's awareness of what was behind him could let him down from time to time, but he was also asked to do a lot on his own.
Liverpool might also be eying just flipping the swashbuckling to the other side of the field. They've been heavily connected to Bournemouth's Milos Kerkez. They wouldn't be buying him to basically make him a third centerback when they have the ball. A team buys Kerkez to give him license to be the same attacking yahoo he's been for Bournemouth. One that also loves to make those underlapping runs into the opponent's box, as well as every other attacking run one could conceive of.
That could mean that Liverpool's future right back might be more conservative, staying back to support the defense while Kerkez joins the attack. That's a role that Joe Gomez has served out for a few seasons now at various times. Relying on Gomez there would depend on him being able to remain upright for more than four days in a row. He's never proven he can do that. Plus, there remains a possibility he wil move somewhere where he can play in the middle week after week (or for however many weeks he can). He was looking around last summer for just that, and may do so again this one.
That doesn't mean Liverpool won't miss Alexander-Arnold. It was easy to see against Newcastle in the League Cup Final or after he got hurt against PSG how much they missed his ability to go over a press with one of those trademark, raking, long-range passes. Teams playing Liverpool just couldn't cover all their options when that was one of them. Now it won't be. Slot has asked Virgil van Dijk to play more of those passes, perhaps in anticipation of losing Alexander-Arnold, and that will certainly continue with the latter heading out the door.
Liverpool had something no one else had for six seasons. Real Madrid are going to take it, which is what Real Madrid do. They'll have to find a new way, but there are new ways out there.