Ant

I agree with all of this. Maybe Madrid are genuinely doing right by him, but I can only imagine this is the case if all 3 parties are completely aligned on it. I.E The agreement was signed weeks/months ago and this is all a show which is the most likely outcome. The only reason why this wouldn't be the case is if something actually hasn't been signed and it's all predicated upon a level of trust from 3 parties and perhaps I'm being too unfair to Madrid in expecting them to basically not care about the way in which Trent is departing.

I think in some respects this whole thing could time out on him - I can fully well imagine Real Madrid being completely arsey with him - putting something out before the Palace game and it causing all sorts of mayhem. Or indeed some form of threat by them to sign the agreement (if it hasn't been done so already) or they will pull out. Bizarrely the way I fee now is the longer this drags on, the more likely he is to stay.

You're sort of making my point for me, there is the value to us and the value to RM. I don't think we're selling him for less than £100m, no one is going to pay that much for him therefore he just ends up staying as long as he has a contract and is happy. Now he's lowered the barriers to other suitors to either make the move and take control or put himself in a better negotiating position with the club

I think they have their limits. We wouldn't sell for less than £100m-£120m and they wouldn't buy him for that either. Even assuming a signing on fee of £30m it's a bargain. The circumstances have been manufactured towards an ending like this, maybe not to the extent of which Real Madrid knew of his intentions years ago but manufactured to the extent of which that he would be in control of making a move of this nature or indeed maximising what he could get from LFC.

It's clear that Slot just really doesn't trust half the squad. Which is weird in the case of Endo and Harvey. As for Chiesa. I don't think Slot see's him playing in anyplace other than that of Salah and that in itself is a problem.

The day we win it The day we lift it The day of the parade It’s going to be heavy lad

By horrible what I mean was for the last 7 minutes of the game yesterday I was holding my head in my hands. This is different, not bad different, just different. The intensity by which we've competed for the league with City, I mean that was horrible and the euphoric moments where generally tempered by City pulling out a result. The issue is that in reality we won the league weeks ago, the jeopardy isn't there to a large extent and it's so close we just want a big let off and the Virgil goal was that let off.

It was a horrible game and it's been horrible for the best part of this year, aside from the City result. Can't quite put my finger on it but when we lift the big shiny thing at the end no one will care.

We are a club founded by Tories who exist because we increased the rent, and in recent times owned by a fella whose family made money off gambling. Gillett was involved in the mass slaughter of poultry, Hicks made money from oil contributing to the climate crisis. We've been ran by fundamentally flawed people since the club was founded. It's only fair we fold as a club tbh

I think he's going to drown some puppies this summer, in Harvey especially. Very difficult to be too critical of someone who pending a catastrophic failure will deliver us the league, but I've found the treatment of Harvey to be a little bit mad, alongside Endo.

He’s still by some considerable distance the most talented player I’ve ever seen play for Liverpool. Suarez that is

The term legend is meaningless ultimately I think it's about evoking a feeling when you think of them. For example when I think of Origi - I have the biggest smile on my face which is incomparable with absolutely any player you wish to throw at me. Trent is a 'legend' if you want to use that term, but if he leaves in the way he's looking at leaving my first thoughts won't be of joy, but ultimately time is a healer so who knows.

There was the initial hurt at the time, and then time being a healer either through acceptance that it was the right thing for them or indeed they where s*** anyway. For example Torres was the one that upset me the most, but in part due to the things that have came out since and the fact he's been warmly applauded when playing in the legends game he's quite contrite after the initial stuff he came out with after leaving. Clearly other factors at play. Suarez was a generational talent and the best we've ever seen and deserved to go and play somewhere like Barca and we got a s*** load of money for him. Sterling doesn't even register with me anymore. Alonso went onto better things and we got decent money for him. Time is a healer - usually I don't really have any anger after a while towards players who have left the club aside from the initial reaction.

It's still opportunism, but opportunism sometimes comes with losers. In this case the club that gave him his career that happens to the place he was born and raised are the losers. It's clear now that this was part of a larger plan - and perhaps opportunistic is not the right word because it implies none of this was planned when I think it was. Liverpool will not keep players that don't want to be here, but equally they'll want a decent price. No one will ever know but I wonder how much of this is the leaving of Liverpool, and actually he just wants to play for Real Madrid and he manufactured it to lower the barriers as much as possible to RM. I.E Liverpool wouldn't sell for less than £100m and RM had no intention of paying anything more than £60m regardless of the length of contract TAA had remaining. Maybe the only way this deal was ever going to get done for TAA was to leave on a free...

What is disappointing is not so much the opportunism by Madrid but that Trent has allowed the opportunism. I wonder what Real Madrid would have paid for him if this wasn’t in the offing