The formalities around Trent Alexander-Arnold’s unveiling lasted a day last Thursday and the following morning, the 26-year-old was straight down to business as he trained for the first time in Real Madrid colours.
Come Saturday, Madrid travelled to Miami and over the last few days, reality has started to settle in for Alexander-Arnold here in the Sunshine State.
That sense of familiarity and knowing every name in the building at Liverpool is gone. A time now to make new connections and throw himself into a new culture. Ultimately, it was he who chose the challenge – even though it meant dealing with some skeletons.
His first interaction with Vinicius Junior, who joined the squad straight from international duty, at the Four Seasons Resort on Palm Beach did the rounds on social media – mainly because of Alexander-Arnold’s struggles over the years against the Brazilian.
‘You won’t be able to dribble past me anymore, I suffered a lot against you at Liverpool,’ he joked, before they shared a warm embrace. Another clip showed the pair hand in hand during an exercise in the gym.
Perhaps the greatest compliment for Alexander-Arnold is that by all accounts here, he has hit the ground running.
Trent Alexander-Arnold was at last unveiled as a Real Madrid player last Thursday when he revealed near-perfect Spanish
The England right-back beams and points to the Real Madrid badge as he sports Real’s new kit
By all accounts the former Liverpool star has hit the ground running since joining up with Real
‘It doesn’t feel like he just came here,’ an established Real Madrid source told Mail Sport. ‘The way he has carried himself over the last week has been exemplary.’
Already, there is a sense of belonging. His grasp of Spanish last week at Valdebebas during the unveiling wasn’t just for show and Mail Sport understands that the 26-year-old has been learning the language over the last few months.
‘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,’ said Alexander-Arnold, who was the subject of Real Madrid’s Player Cam at their Palm Beach training base on Monday. ‘WATCH HIM TRAIN’ was the title of the YouTube video.
The Spanish sports outlet Diario said Alexander-Arnold was ‘physically, like a beast’ while another Madrid insider described Trent as ‘like a talented kid who has just moved school’ with the somewhat shy nature he has approached these first few days under new head coach Xabi Alonso.
That is not to say Alexander-Arnold has lacked confidence with the ball at his feet – rather, it is a methodical effort from the Englishman to let his football do the talking and a desire not to be brash in a dressing room full of personalities.
On his Instagram, where he has changed his handle to just @Trent, he shared a seven-second clip of him beating Thibaut Courtois, where he afforded himself nothing more than a little smile.
Already, he has spoken about the difference in the quality of training, which did little to please Liverpool fans on social media.
‘The training sessions are high quality and here the ball moves very fast. It’s different from what I’m used to.’ Trent said. In fairness, Dean Huijsen – a fellow new arrival, for £50million from Bournemouth – admitted the same to the press yesterday.
Mail Sport understands Alexander-Arnold has been learning Spanish over the last few months
Fellow new arrival Dean Huijsen echoed the right back’s claims training is different to anything he had ever experienced
The former Liverpool star joined the likes of Vinicius Jr, Kylian Mbappe and Luka Modric in a ‘foreign rondo’ in training
During open training at Gardens North County District Park on Sunday, Trent stuck close to Jude Bellingham and was part of the ‘foreign rondo’.
The emphasis within the initial stages is very much to stick close to Bellingham, who is already one of the most influential players in the Madrid dressing room.
‘It’s easy to forget that for a while Madrid were put off by British players after the struggles of the likes of Michael Owen and Jonathan Woodgate,’ says David Alvarez, of the El Pais newspaper.
‘They (Madrid) lacked confidence with English players and had doubts over their adaptation to Spain. Jude transformed that and the success of Jude certainly put more confidence in Madrid.’
Alexander-Arnold sought Bellingham’s advice throughout the process, which was understandably a fraught one given the club he was leaving behind, his boyhood team.
Madrid have made every effort to welcome him and his family. When club president Florentino Perez named Alexander-Arnold’s girlfriend Estelle at the official unveiling, it was seen as a particularly warming moment and after signing, he received a number of gifts including a replica of the stadium, a watch and a shirt with his name and 12 on the back.
Madrid don’t believe in making new players do initiations, so Alexander-Arnold hasn’t been pressured to sing yet.
‘They’ve all put in a lot of effort, spoken to me, made me feel comfortable and made sure any questions I had – especially with the translations and things – they’ve helped me a lot with everything,’ he said.
Real Madrid had lacked confidence in British players until Jude Bellingham’s success
One Madrid insider described Alexander-Arnold as ‘like a talented kid who has just moved school’ with the somewhat shy nature he has approached these first few days
During open training at Gardens North County District Park on Sunday, the new Los Blancos star stuck close to Bellingham
If getting Alexander-Arnold and Huijsen in early, in time for the Club World Cup were indicators of how seriously Madrid are treating this tournament, including paying a £8.4m just to get the Englishman a month earlier than him walking in for free, there’s further evidence.
Just take a stroll around this complex, which until recently was just a local facility that could be hired by anyone.
Madrid representatives visited on numerous occasions over the past year as they transformed the site, installing a clubhouse at one end with changing rooms, an on-site gym and facilities for various other treatments.
At the other end, stands have been installed and a glass lobby for Madrid officials to watch, away from the heat.
Remarkably, they didn’t inspect the outfield until the fifth visit. The word of Marcelo Bielsa, who came here last summer with Uruguay, was enough with Bielsa shaking the hands and bowing to the ground staff when he first came.
‘Madrid is a whole different animal and we’ve learnt that over the past year,’ Daniel Prieto, deputy leisure services director at Palm Beach Gardens, told Mail Sport.
Perez, 78, was at training on Tuesday and given his alliance with Gianni Infantino, has been one of the driving forces behind the Club World Cup.
Madrid, who won the tournament a record five times before the expansion into its current format, begin their campaign against Al Hilal in searing 30-degree heat on Wednesday.
Xabi Alonso’s side get their campaign up and running against Saudi Arabian giants Al-Hilal
Alexander-Arnold may be out of his comfort zone but there is no feeling of homesickness yet
Both Alexander-Arnold and Huijsen are set to make their debuts against the Saudi Arabian side, who snapped up Simone Inzaghi from Inter Milan immediately after he had lost the Champions League final, and boast familiar faces in former Premier League players Aleksandar Mitrovic, Joao Cancelo, Ruben Neves and Kalidou Koulibaly.
‘We’ve spoken quite a bit to each other and we’re both just excited to start,’ Huijsen said. ‘Real Madrid wants to win everything so of course, we want to win this.’
As for Alexander-Arnold, on the basis of this first week alone, there is no feeling of homesickness yet.
‘I’m enjoying the change, I’m enjoying being a part of it,’ he said. ‘It feels really good and I’m happy to be here.’
He may be out of his comfort zone after leaving behind a 20-year life in Liverpool, but this is what he wanted. Change may not be the worst thing, after all.