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Trent Alexander-Arnold spoke almost flawless Spanish during his Real Madrid presentation(Image: Anadolu via Getty Images)

Gary Lineker and Alan Shearer both defended Trent Alexander-Arnold after being left astonished by his impressive Spanish during his Real Madrid unveiling.

Shearer hit out at those criticising the defender for learning Spanish during his time at Liverpool, saying: “So what?"

Alexander-Arnold joined the La Liga giants for a total of £10million – an £8.4m fee plus his remaining wages – after deciding not to extend his contract with boyhood club Liverpool at the end of this season.



A move to Madrid was reportedly in the pipeline since the latter stages of the campaign, which only became more evident during his unveiling as a new signing earlier this month.

The England full-back stunned fans and media alike by fluently reeling off his entire presentation speech in Spanish, while many others in the past have simply said: “Hala Madrid."

His impressive Spanish speaking skills led to some frustration back on Merseyside, as some Reds supporters were led to believe he had been planning his Madrid move long before this summer and had purposely run down his contract.

On the other hand, former Match of the Day presenter Lineker, who spent three seasons playing for Madrid’s rivals Barcelona in Spain himself, was left impressed by Alexander-Arnold’s speech.

He discussed it on The Rest Is Football podcast with Shearer, Micah Richards and Alex Aljoe, saying: “His Spanish was pretty good, wasn’t it boys?

“Quick mention for him by the way.

He told the Real Madrid YouTube channel: “The meetings and the tactical talks are all in Spanish so they take some getting used to.

But in terms of day to day conversations, it’s easy.

“I have a decent base level of Spanish so I can hold a decent conversation with the lads and likewise they have a very good understanding of English so it’s easy to communicate.”

The 26-year-old has been training under new Madrid manager Xabi Alonso and could play his first game for Los Blancos against Al-Hilal on Wednesday evening at the Club World Cup.