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Eyebrows were raised when Trent Alexander-Arnold signed his last contract with Liverpool in July 2021.

Not because he’d agreed fresh terms for the third time in four years, far from it, but rather the length of his new deal caught the eye.

After a difficult season, the Reds were in the process of tying down the futures of a number of their key players who had been crucial to winning the Champions League and Premier League.

That summer alone, Jordan Henderson, Virgil van Dijk, Andy Robertson, Alisson Becker, Fabinho, Harvey Elliott and Caoimhin Kelleher all signed new, long-term contracts with the club.

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Sure enough, come 2023, he was appointed as the new Reds vice-captain and seemed destined to become the next Liverpool captain.

But that shorter contract length ultimately opened the door to Real Madrid and enabled Alexander-Arnold to slip through Reds fingers, with the 26-year-old now Bernabeu-bound after confirming he will leave his boyhood club at the end of his contract.

Having previously signed new deals in July 2017 and January 2019, it’s said that the England international had expected to be back around the negotiating table again in the summer of 2023 - especially after being named as the club’s new vice-captain.

Yet he was left waiting as big changes off the pitch took priority at Anfield.

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And while they resisted Real Madrid’s attempts to sign the defender in January, that could only delay - not prevent - the inevitable.

It was only during the March international break that they gave up hope, reluctantly accepting that the La Liga giants’ charm offensive had won after Alexander-Arnold sat down for face-to-face talks with Slot and informed him of his desire to pursue a new challenge.

In truth, there was little more Liverpool could have done, having been backed into a corner by the previous expiry date on Alexander-Arnold’s contract in the first place.

Had he been tied down until 2026 or 2027 instead, like some of his team-mates, who knows if this contract saga would have ended differently if Klopp had stayed on or after winning his second Premier League title under Slot and with the lure of the Reds captaincy lurking in the horizon.

Of course, that four-year deal has worked in Alexander-Arnold’s favour, leaving him as an out-of-contract 26-year-old at the peak of his powers.

He had ‘completed’ English football by the age of 23 in the spring of 2022, before losing his second Champions League final to Real Madrid.

While his idol, Steven Gerrard, spent his entire career chasing an elusive Premier League title, Alexander-Arnold had no such white whale left to slay.

Anger at the ‘Scouser in our team’ was always going to be inevitable.