Tranmere laugh off the idea of signing Trent Alexander-Arnold after mocking from Roy Keane

Tranmere Rovers laugh off the idea of signing Trent Alexander-Arnold after receiving mocking from Roy Keane on Sunday evening.

They humorously declined the suggestion from Keane that Trent Alexander-Arnold might move to their club, referencing Keane’s critique of Alexander-Arnold’s defensive performance against Manchester United.

Roy Keane was on punditry duties for Liverpool v Man Utd, and went viral when he made a jibe about Alexander-Arnold’s defending.

Keane was left stunned at the lack of quality that he joked that TAA being more likely to join Tranmere, in the fourth tier, instead of the La Liga giants Real Madrid, of whom he is being linked with as his contract winds down.

Keane said: ”Trent Alexander-Arnold has been all over the place defensively. “His defending has been schoolboy stuff. He’s got to do better.

“They’re talking about him going to Real Madrid. The way he’s defending he’s going to [League Two] Tranmere Rovers after this.”

Tranmere tweeted in response: “❔ Trent to Tranmere, Roy? Nah, we’re alright thanks.”

“He’s going to Tranmere Rovers after this” 💬

Roy Keane’s honest opinion on Trent Alexander-Arnold’s defending. pic.twitter.com/vE02Qmnqik

— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) January 5, 2025

❔ Trent to Tranmere, Roy? Nah, we’re alright thanks.#TRFC #SWA pic.twitter.com/fQ6bgvUcDE

— Tranmere Rovers FC (@TranmereRovers) January 5, 2025

Gary Neville claimed Real Madrid’s reported offer was “insulting” and it’s “probably unnerved” Alexander-Arnold.

“The bid for Real Madrid is bad timing for him, now I don’t know what’s going to happen with Trent Alexander-Arnold whether he’s going to leave Liverpool or not but if you’ve got that going into a big game, you’re a local lad as well, that won’t be easy with that distraction,” Neville said.

“Manchester United are an animal, I thought it was insulting from Real Madrid, they do that sometimes they think they can get what they want.

“Liverpool are a club of immense stature, they’re never going to sell you Trent Alexander-Arnold for £20 million in January, they’re taking the mickey a little bit.

“That’s probably unnerved him a little, you can imagine his family, his agents, all saying, ‘what’s going on?’ you can imagine that noise – which I don’t think would’ve been helpful.”

Jamie Carragher then claimed that Alexander-Arnold’s representatives “invited the bid from Real Madrid”.

He added: “We’re not naive enough to think Real Madrid would put a bid in for a player in January for a player for nothing in four months. Do you seriously believe they’re sitting at home and it comes through on Sky Sports, ‘Wow’. Of course, they do.

“Because he’s getting criticism that he might leave for free now if Real Madrid put a bid in in January and Liverpool don’t accept, maybe they can say, ‘well you were offered £30 million to £40 million’, for me it was to buy a little bit of time if he goes for free, they can say Liverpool were offered £20m, £30m to £40m.”

Jamie Carragher added: “I thought he was really poor today, I don’t think the game could’ve gone much worse for him. There was definitely going to be focus on him, I expected Trent to bring the performances we’ve seen so often. He almost dominates the game from right-back, as a playmaker.

“I was expecting a really big performance. He was poor defensively, which we’ve seen before, but there was nothing going forward, even on the ball. Only he knows if the talk affected him, but the fact that he was so poor in the first game after Real Madrid’s bid, tells me it must’ve affected him.”

The game itself saw Liverpool miss the chance to move eight clear at the top of the Premier League table after being held to a 2-2 draw with Manchester United at Anfield; Lisandro Martinez opened the scoring before Cody Gakpo and Mohamed Salah had turned it around.

Manchester United head coach Ruben Amorim speaking in the press conference:

“I want to see my team play so much better, but I think the most important thing to address today is the mentality. That is the key for everything. Today we were a different team, not because of the system, not because of the technical aspect of the game [or] the tactical aspect of the game.

Liverpool boss Arne Slot disagreed that Real Madrid’s impact affected Alexander-Arnold:

“I don’t believe in those things, but I think nine out of 10 people will tell you that it affected him. But I’m one of the 10 that tells you that I don’t think that affected him.

“What affected him is that he had to play Bruno Fernandes and Diogo Dalot, which are two starters from Portugal, great, great, great players.

“And we have a fantastic player here, Diogo Jota, and he’s not even playing for Portugal, or mostly he’s not playing. So that tells you how much quality United has.

“And if these players set themselves to a game, and that is what United once in a while does, then it’s very difficult to play against them.

“And I think that is more difficult for Trent to play against Bruno Fernandes and Diogo Dalot than it is [to deal with] the rumours that were there during the week. But that’s my opinion, and probably everybody’s going to tell you that it had to do with the rumours.”