Liverpool chief Richard Hughes has huge problem to solve weeks before new season starts

Liverpool transfer chief Richard Hughes has a huge problem to solve ahead of the new Premier League season as star player Trent Alexander-Arnold will return the club following Euro 2024 with less than a year remaining on his contract. The versatile player came through the Reds academy but has been linked with a move to Real Madrid this summer.

Liverpool are preparing for their first campaign under new manager Arne Slot, who succeeded Jurgen Klopp in the Anfield dugout earlier this summer.

And the Merseyside giants will be desperate to secure the futures of their most talented stars to give Slot the best chance of success.

Alexander-Arnold has made 310 first-team appearances for Liverpool, bagging 19 goals and 81 assists, and is widely regarded as one of the most technically gifted players in Europe.

He signed a new four-year contract in June 2021 after helping the Reds to Champions League and Club World Cup triumph in 2019 and Premier League glory a year later. And he has since become an FA Cup and two-time Carabao Cup winner.

At the age of 25, the ace could still have his best days ahead of him and will be heavily relied on to galvanise the Liverpool team under Slot. But Hughes must act quickly to tie him down to a new long-term deal to ensure the player’s head isn’t turned by Real’s advances in the coming months.

Alexander-Arnold is currently enjoying a break from action after featuring for England at Euro 2024.

The player, who has excelled at right-back and in midfield for his club, started his country’s first two group matches in the centre of the pitch and dispatched the winning penalty in the last-16 shootout victory over Switzerland after coming on as a late substitute.

But he played just 11 minutes of England’s final five matches after being snubbed by Gareth Southgate in the crucial matches.

Real are said to have concrete plans to sign Alexander-Arnold, with England team-mate Jude Bellingham reportedly being deployed as a ‘surprise agent’ by Madrid in an attempt to persuade the Premier League star to move to Spain.

Alexander-Arnold is thought to be likely to give Slot and his current employers a year to convince him to stay at Anfield. And Hughes will be doing everything he can to keep the player.

The England international is set to return to the north west in the coming weeks, with Liverpool beginning their Premier League campaign with a trip to Ipswich in mid-August.