Manchester City and Pep Guardiola attempted to hijack Trent Alexander-Arnold move to Real Madrid

Pep Guardiola tried to hijack Real Madrid’s expected signing of Liverpool’s Trent Alexander-Arnold until a few weeks ago, a new report has claimed.

Alexander-Arnold confirmed this week he will be leaving boyhood club Liverpool when his contract runs out, refusing to renew terms and extending his 20-year stay at Anfield as he nears a sensational, much-awaited switch to Real Madrid.

Real Madrid have been favourites to sign the England international for the last 12 months and saw a £20 million offer for the right-back turned down by Liverpool in January amid the newly-crowned Premier League champions’ pursuit of a 20th league title.

Alexander-Arnold has established himself as one of the best full-backs in world football since breaking into Jurgen Klopp’s first-team in 2017 from the academy and helping the Reds to a host of silverware under the German.

The Liverpool born-and-bred defender is close to agreeing a move to Real Madrid after announcing an emotional farewell to his boyhood club earlier this week, which has sent Liverpool fans on social media into a collective meltdown.

Liverpool managed to get Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk to sign new deals in the closing months of the season to secure the future(s) of two of their most important players, with Alexander-Arnold deciding to pursue a new chapter and that destination will be Madrid.

However, in an interesting round of new developments, it has now been revealed that Manchester City and Pep Guardiola made a late effort to try and tempt Alexander-Arnold to the Etihad Stadium.

Defensa Central have claimed that Manchester City offered a lucrative deal – superior to that offered to Alexander-Arnold by Real Madrid – to the defender to test his resolve, which was swiftly denied by the Liverpool man as his heart is set on a new chapter in the Spanish capital.

Manchester City are looking to bring in at least one full-back in the summer as Kyle Walker is expected to leave permanently when he returns from a loan stint at AC Milan, having joined the Italian side in January after a horror few months of form in sky blue.

Rico Lewis, Matheus Nunes and January signing Abdukodir Khusanov have deputised at right-back in Walker’s absence this season but City are expected to invest significantly in the position to address it once and for all when they conduct an audit of Guardiola’s squad come the transfer window.

Juventus’ Andrea Cambiaso has been identified as a priority target in the position by officials at the Etihad Stadium and with Hugo Viana set to take over from Txiki Begiristain as director of football in the near future, City are expected to be busy in the transfer market.