Trent Alexander-Arnold hit by rule and Real Madrid 'ban' after Liverpool move
Trent Alexander-Arnold will report back to Real Madrid for the Club World Cup after England duty, but he will be greeted by a couple of different rules from his time at Liverpool
Trent Alexander-Arnold may have completed his move to Real Madrid but will face two issues at his new club. The former Liverpool star will link up with Xabi Alonso's side after the international break.
The 26-year-old featured as a second-half substitute as England recorded a turgid 1-0 win over Andorra to take another step towards World Cup qualification. Given that Liverpool midfielder Curtis Jones played at right-back on Saturday, Alexander-Arnold could replace him for England's friendly with Senegal on Tuesday.
It is set to be a busy summer for Alexander-Arnold, who was confirmed as a Real player a month early to play for Los Blancos at the upcoming Club World Cup. However, he will soon face two fresh issues in Madrid: his favoured No. 66 shirt is unavailable and he cannot drive his preferred car to training.
Alexander-Arnold wore No. 66 on the back of his shirt throughout his Liverpool career. Breaking into the team as an academy graduate, the full-back chose to stick with his unusual shirt number.
His success in a Liverpool shirt didn't prompt him to change to a more conventional number for a first team regular, even after winning major honours with his boyhood club. However, he will not be able to continue that trend in the Spanish capital.
This is because La Liga rules insist that no first team player is allowed a shirt number higher than No. 25. Only youth players are allowed to wear shirt numbers higher than that, with fellow defender Raul Asencio (No. 35) being one of the few exceptions last season.
Real Madrid veteran Dani Carvajal holds the conventional No. 2 for a right-back. Regarding Alexander-Arnold's available options, he has No. 12, No. 24 and No. 25 to choose from based on this season.
The transfer market could further impact his options before the start of next term. Moreover, Luka Modric (No. 10), Lucas Vasquez (No. 17) and Jesus Vallejo (No. 18) are all set to reach the end of their contracts after this summer's Club World Cup.
Whichever number Alexander-Arnold chooses, he will have to make another compromise in terms of how he gets to training. During his time at Liverpool, the defender often travelled to the club's AXA Training Centre in his Range Rover P530. Although the car model is no longer available to buy in the UK, the luxury SUV was previously priced at £130,000. It boasts a 4.4 V8 twin-turbo engine with 530 horsepower and can reach a top speed of 155mph.
Unfortunately, he will be unable to show his preferred motor to his new Real team-mates due to the club's commercial deal with BMW. As part of the sponsorship agreement, players are banned from driving any other brand of car to training, according to Spanish outlet El Motor.
The deal only includes electric and hybrid vehicles, which are later sold as pre-owned by BMW. However, the good news for Alexander-Arnold is that he can take his pick free of charge.
Both Jude Bellingham and Kylian Mbappe have opted for the BMW XM, which usually costs around £152k. Meanwhile, Vinicius Junior went for the slightly more expensive BMW i7 M70 xDrive, which is priced at around £157k.
Alexander-Arnold was announced as a Real player at the beginning of this month after the club reached a £10million deal with Liverpool for the full-back to end his contract a month early. He was due to arrive as a free agent at the end of his Reds deal, but Real stumped up £8.4m plus another £1.6m to cover his remaining salary so he'd be available for the Club World Cup.
Real are set to begin their Club World Cup campaign against Al-Hilal on June 18. The Spanish giants also have group games against Mexican side Pachuca and Red Bull Salzburg. The tournament is scheduled to last until July 13.
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