Alexander-Arnold’s Possible Move to Madrid ‘Doesn’t Affect Me at All,’ Says Liverpool Manager Slot

Football - Premier League - Liverpool v Newcastle United - Anfield, Liverpool, Britain - January 1, 2024 Liverpool's Trent Alexander-Arnold applauds fans. (Reuters)
Football - Premier League - Liverpool v Newcastle United - Anfield, Liverpool, Britain - January 1, 2024 Liverpool's Trent Alexander-Arnold applauds fans. (Reuters)
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Alexander-Arnold’s Possible Move to Madrid ‘Doesn’t Affect Me at All,’ Says Liverpool Manager Slot

Football - Premier League - Liverpool v Newcastle United - Anfield, Liverpool, Britain - January 1, 2024 Liverpool's Trent Alexander-Arnold applauds fans. (Reuters)
Football - Premier League - Liverpool v Newcastle United - Anfield, Liverpool, Britain - January 1, 2024 Liverpool's Trent Alexander-Arnold applauds fans. (Reuters)

Liverpool's bid to clinch a record-tying Premier League title hasn't been affected by persistent reports linking Trent Alexander-Arnold with a move to Real Madrid at the end of the season, manager Arne Slot said Tuesday.

Sections of the British media reported during the international break that Madrid is in discussions about finalizing a deal to bring in Alexander-Arnold, who is in the last year of his contract at Liverpool and would be available on a free transfer. Neither club has publicly commented on a potential deal.

Slot said his club has lived the entire season with speculation about Alexander-Arnold as well as both Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk, who are also out of contract at the end of the season.

“It's a situation that is there for eight or nine months now,” Slot said, “and I think all these three players have performed so well under these circumstances, so it doesn't affect me at all.”

Slot said there would not have been so much talk about Alexander-Arnold in recent weeks had he been fit and played for England in World Cup qualifiers. Instead, he is recovering from hurting his ankle when Liverpool was eliminated from the Champions League by Paris Saint-Germain on March 11.

That means Alexander-Arnold will miss the Premier League game against local rival Everton on Wednesday. Ahead of the midweek round, Liverpool leads by 12 points over second-place Arsenal with nine games remaining as the clubs looks to a seal a 20th English league title, tying the record with Manchester United.

“He is injured,” Slot said of Alexander-Arnold, "and that means for him he is fully focused on his recovery and for us it means we are trying to help him to be back as soon as he can. For the rest, for the last eight months, it went up and down maybe with all the talks about him, Virgil or Mo, but we have never been focused on those talks.

“We have been focused on what we have to do. For Virgil and Mo, that is trying to win the Merseyside derby and for Trent it is making sure he is fit as soon as he can (be).”

The 26-year-old Alexander-Arnold has played his entire career at Liverpool and won every major honor with the Merseyside club, including the Premier League and Champions League.



Zverev Overcomes Moutet to Reach Stuttgart Quarters

12 June 2025, Baden-Württemberg, Stuttgart: German tennis player Alexander Zverev in action against France's Corentin Moutet during their men's singles round of 16 tennis match of the Stuttgart Open tennis tournament. Photo: Marijan Murat/dpa
12 June 2025, Baden-Württemberg, Stuttgart: German tennis player Alexander Zverev in action against France's Corentin Moutet during their men's singles round of 16 tennis match of the Stuttgart Open tennis tournament. Photo: Marijan Murat/dpa
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Zverev Overcomes Moutet to Reach Stuttgart Quarters

12 June 2025, Baden-Württemberg, Stuttgart: German tennis player Alexander Zverev in action against France's Corentin Moutet during their men's singles round of 16 tennis match of the Stuttgart Open tennis tournament. Photo: Marijan Murat/dpa
12 June 2025, Baden-Württemberg, Stuttgart: German tennis player Alexander Zverev in action against France's Corentin Moutet during their men's singles round of 16 tennis match of the Stuttgart Open tennis tournament. Photo: Marijan Murat/dpa

German top seed Alexander Zverev beat Frenchman Corentin Moutet 6-2 7-6(7) on Thursday to reach the Stuttgart Open quarter-finals, staying on course in his Wimbledon tune-up after a quarter-final run at Roland Garros.

Zverev has long struggled on grass. The 28-year-old has won 24 tour-level titles but none on grass and has never gone past the fourth round at Wimbledon.

Zverev, a three-times Grand Slam finalist, raced through the first set, but Moutet responded well in the second, taking an early 2-1 lead, Reuters reported.

The set tightened as both players traded breaks to reach 4-4, before Zverev held his nerve in the tiebreak to close out the match.

"I prefer to win 6-2 6-2, but you can never choose these kind of things but in the end I won and that's the most important thing," said Zverev, who last played at Stuttgart in 2019.

"I think the first match on grass was never easy. I honestly think it was a very average match. I made it complicated, but a win is a win and I'm happy to play tomorrow again."

Fourth seed Felix Auger-Aliassime earned his first win on grass since Halle in 2022, defeating Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard 6-4 6-4 to move into the quarter-finals in Stuttgart. The 24-year-old Canadian will next face German teenager Justin Engel.

Wildcard Engel, who won his first tour-level grasscourt match in the previous round, stunned American seventh seed Alex Michelsen 6-4 6-4, breaking for 2-1 in both sets and holding serve throughout without facing a single break point.

The 17-year-old Engel becomes the youngest Stuttgart quarter-finalist and also the youngest player to reach the quarter-finals of an ATP grasscourt event since 1985, when Boris Becker made it to the Wimbledon quarter-finals.