But having rejected an advance in late December due in favour of allowing Alexander-Arnold to aid the charge towards the Premier League title, Liverpool were more amenable when the La Liga giants came knocking once more.

Having accepted the 26-year-old's decision to seek a fresh challenge in Madrid once his contract had officially expired on June 30, Liverpool instead used their rivals' desperation to see Alexander-Arnold turn out for them at the Club World Cup to their benefit.

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Real Madrid's Club World Cup campaign officially gets under in the United States on June 18, when they meet Al-Hilal of the Saudi Pro League and they wanted Alexander-Arnold with them in their ranks for the competition.

And while seeing the West Derby-born defender shuffle away from his boyhood club for a fee that is nowhere near his true value as an England international who has won the lot at Anfield is not exactly an ideal outcome, the £10m fee that Liverpool will bank for his exit, in the circumstances, should be constituted a win of sorts, particularly given it looked like he would be leaving for nothing less than a week ago.

In many ways, it shows how lucrative the revamped and new-look Club World Cup is that Madrid are prepared to spend £10m to bring a player in four weeks before they can snare him for nothing.

But that would be doing Liverpool's hardline negotiating a stance a disservice and while the fee is a bittersweet moment for those still hurting about Alexander-Arnold's decision to defect, it points towards a football operations department who are prepared to be robust and aggressive in their wheeling and their dealings this summer.

With Jeremie Frimpong now confirmed as a Reds player, a £10m Alexander-Arnold feel offsetting the departure of a vaunted player and Wirtz negotiations ongoing, it's obvious there is no resting on laurels for Arne Slot, Hughes and the rest of those tasked with keeping the club where it currently finds itself