‘I could do it with one of those contracts!’ I know John Barnes when asked about Liverpool’s expired trio. Couldn’t we all?
Football has changed since 1987, when he joined the Reds and became Britain’s highest-paid player on £10,000 a week. However, many have stayed the same in recent years, including the tightrope walked by local Liverpool lads done right.
Yes, KOP adulation beckons, chants in its name, murals, legendary status. But you also risk the wrath of some fans if there’s a chance you’ll leave.
Ask Trent Alexander-Arnold, like Steven Gerrard and Steve McManaman before him. Earlier this month, after a day off against Manchester United, the West Derby lad, who has given 20 years of dedication to the Reds, faced a torrent of abuse. He “couldn’t give Af***” and should be “kicked off the team,” according to some philosophers at X. All this in the face of a Real Madrid contract and flirtation saga, of course.
Curtis Jones has faced similar vitriol this week for daring to give a cautious and balanced explanation for why he felt Eden Hazard, one of his childhood role models, was “better” than Mohamed Salah. He was branded a “disgrace” and warned that his “poor judgment” could derail the team’s title chase and jeopardize the Egyptian’s contract negotiations.
We will address it in due course, but it is the situations of Alexander-Arnold, Salah and Virgil Van Dijk that are the primary threats in a serene season. Some fingers on the club for not tying them up sooner, others on the players for perceived greed or discontent. Barnes takes a firmly pragmatic, if slightly pessimistic, view.
John Barnes talks to Mail Sport about Liverpool’s near-out-of-contract trio and abuse of Curtis Jones

Trent Alexander-Arnold faced heavy criticism from some fans after the draw with Manchester United earlier this month

Barnes believes all the power lies with the players and that Liverpool have done all they can.
‘It’s a very simple enigma. The players these days have all the power. The clubs can’t do anything about it. What I demand, and what the fans must demand of the players, is exactly what these three have done: while contracted to Liverpool, they give 100 per cent,’ Barnes tells Mail Sport from the live fan event from Livescore at Long Shot Bar in Liverpool.
‘With Mo, the club cannot compete financially with the Saudis, so it’s not about money as far as I’m concerned. With Virgil I think it’s the easiest to do. I think Virgil will stay. With Trent, you may decide you want to try a new culture, a new country, a new language, you’ve been here long enough.
‘The club can’t do anything to make them stay. The club is putting everything in its place from a football perspective: they are the best in the Champions League, they are the best team in the country, they are the best team in the world.
“The club will offer them what they can offer them, they are not going to say: ‘We will try to put it at a low price’. It is up to the players whether they want to stay or not and the club cannot do anything about it. So, I think the fans have to ‘Stop blaming clubs when players decide to go.’
In these situations, fact is difficult to separate from fiction. On January 15, Spanish outlet Releber claimed that Madrid had given up trying to sign Alexander-Arnold this month. A day later, Marca said it was a done deal.
Jamie Carragher had an interesting theory after the 2-2 draw with United. He suggested that Alexander-Arnold or his agent had told Madrid to bid for him. In his eyes, Madrid would not make an offer without some guarantee that he was at least interested. Barnes disagrees that the right would directly invite a bid.
I highly doubt it. That wouldn’t make sense at all,’ he says.
‘I don’t think Trent would have said to make an offer because that’s not doing Trent any favours.

Barnes disagrees with Jamie Carragher’s suggestion that Alexander-Arnold would have invited Madrid to make an offer

Liverpool’s promise on the pitch and an adoring fan base are two compelling reasons to stay

Perhaps the 2-0 win over Real Madrid in November signaled a turning tide between the two clubs.
‘Why would Trent want the situation to be uneasy when he goes to the league, staying until the end of the year, and he knows this is going to create waves? I can understand from Real Madrid’s point of view why they did it, but I don’t think Trent would have been part of it at all.’
The allure of the Spanish giants is a buggly clubs in English that they find difficult to shake. As Jude Bellingham said: “When Real Madrid hits, the whole house shakes.”
Liverpool have faced heartbreak many times with Los Blancos and Barcelona: McManaman, Michael Owen and Xabi Alonso to Capital Club; Luis Suárez, Philippe Coutinho and Javier Mascherano to their Catalan rivals.
However, the 2-0 victory over Madrid on a scorching night in November felt different. He felt empowered. Conor Bradley kept Kylian Mbappe so quiet he might as well have been mummified. A sliding tackle on the Frenchman had fans out of their seats.
Liverpool had lost seven and drawn one of their previous eight games against Carlo Ancelotti’s side, but led them to the Arne Slot Penitentiary. It felt like a significant turning point, and one that Barnes hopes will prove persuasive to Alexander-Arnold, a man who has declared his Ballon d’Or ambitions.
“He has a better chance of winning the Ballon d’Or at Liverpool than at Real Madrid,” he says.
‘If you look at Real Madrid’s superstars, Trent is not going to go there to be an Mbappe, or a Vinicius Junior, to be a Bellingham. I would go there to be the right one back. And yes, he would be an important player, but I don’t think the way the team plays will necessarily fit what Trent wants.
‘And I think a lot of Liverpool players have found it: you look at (Georginio) Wijnaldum, (Roberto) Firmino, (Jordan) Henderson. Everyone who has left hasn’t done so well. From a football perspective, there is no other club that suits Trent more than Liverpool, but that is not necessarily enough for him to stay.

Madrid has dominated the Ballon d’Or in recent years, but Barnes believes Alexander-Arnold would have a better chance of winning it if he stayed at Liverpool

He believes the Spanish team’s attacking talents would take away its shine.
‘If Real Madrid doesn’t win the league or the Champions League, how are you going to win the Ballon d’Or? You don’t win the Ballon d’OR just because you are at Real Madrid. Are you going to win the Ballon d’Or ahead of Bellingham, ahead of Vinicius Junior? You’re the right winger at Real Madrid, rather than the Liverpool player everyone is talking about.
At the maximum, Liverpool have 32 games left this season, which is certainly almost a full-length campaign for some clubs. In the grand scheme of things, there’s no time left to treasure a trio that has played a cumulative 1,018 games for them. Quite a legacy.
On that note, some fans this week felt that Jones had disrespected Salah’s legacy. In a rather light-hearted interview with Rio Ferdinand on TNT Sports, the midfielder argued that Hazard was the best footballer he would pay to see, but that he would prefer to have Salah in his team for a match-winning effect.
It was refreshing to hear a footballer be so honest, even on such a surface-level topic. In the modern Internet climate, discourse is a traveling wire where gamers can encounter the most anodyne of disproportionate comments.
Any suggestion that it would cause a rift was duly banished when Jones assisted Salah during midweek against Lille and the pair celebrated together. Even then, he copied Flak by copying the Egyptian’s celebration, sitting on the advertising hoardings with his arms outstretched.
“I think he’s just making a mountain out of a molehill,” Barnes says of the reaction to Jones’ comments.
‘He is very honest in his assessment. Of course, we are very tribal when it comes to football, whether you are Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea, Man United. Should I say that Salah is better than Messi or Ronaldo or Pelé or someone like that?
‘I’m not interested. Curtis is a fantastic player and a great servant to the club. He’s a local kid, he loves the club, and the fact that he said he thinks Eden Hazard is better than Mo Salah is not at all, to be honest with you.

Abuse towards Curtis Jones is ‘making a mountain out of a molehill’, says Barnes

Fans reacted strongly after Jones claimed Eden Hazard was a ‘better’ player than Salah

Jones clarified that he thought Salah was a bigger match winner than the former Chelsea star.
‘It’s not just in modern football, it’s for all people in the public eye. No matter what you say, the keyboard warriors will come and beat you up. That’s why players can’t be honest.
‘If people want players to come out and be more open, they have to stop abusing them when they are open, particularly about something as innocent as this.
‘Now I fully emphasize with all the footballers. When I was playing, you could go out and buy a drink ad to do whatever you wanted, whereas now you’re just being judged so harshly by everyone, so I understand why players are so reluctant to be honest or open.
‘I love Jack Grealish. I love Cole Palmer. The problem that Cole Palmer can have is that if he suddenly starts not playing well, and he is the way he is, he will start to get stick.
‘What should be judged is football and the way you are as a person. Curtis is a fantastic young man.
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