Maybe RM still will have to pay something. When exactly does his contract end? Maybe it’s June 30th so if RM want him for the UEFA Club World Cup bonanza then a fee would be required.
Don’t ask me because I’m really quite pissed right now. For our American forummers, that does not mean I’m in any way unhappy.
Why exactly.
You left out Option 6.
Everyone’s a bastard!
Yes, if they want Trent to be released a bit early for the club World Cup, there should be a fee involved, even if very modest. When a wealthy and powerful club benefits from a free transfer, the desire to do them a solid evaporates into the ether.
The only reason some of us are ‘disappointed’ or angry or whatever, is because he was born in Liverpool. If it were some other player who had been with the club since he was a kid, but who wasn’t born in Liverpool, I very much doubt if there would be the same level of anger or so-called ‘disappointment’ at him.
He has given everything to this club and now he wants to see if he can make it at the biggest club in the world. He might fail but I applaud his ambition.
Plus, he is not indentured and is as free as any of us to achieve his ambitions with some other employer.
Good luck to him.
The poll that really matters.
F.) It’s Julian Ward’s fault, the bastard.
Because the world and his wife knew that he was bound for Madrid from when Bellingham went there. There was a tapping up operation underway since , or even before , then.
Trent could have made his intentions known then to the club and we could have extracted a decent fee. He chose not to do that and instead engage in the dance that would eventually get him his nice big signing on fee in return for Madrid not paying us a penny.
You can’t extract a decent fee if no one makes you an offer. If he’s decided he wants to go to Madrid you can’t force them to make an offer. You also can’t force him to sign for a club he doesn’t want to go to or to sign a new deal.
Sadly I think we’ll see more and more of this. Big clubs planning a couple years ahead, sowing seeds of big sign on fees and then players winding down their deals. Suits the buying club and the player.
A couple things on this…
Trent obviously made his decision more than 2 years ago… With the way that Madrid operate, they’ve instructed him to not sign a new deal upon which he would be guaranteed a huge salary. It’s smart by Madrid, but disgusting all the same. Obvious tapping up required!
Next… Trent may have some success, but I just don’t get the point of going to the superstar team where he can never be as loved as all the other players. The possibility of having more personal success at Madrid is next to none with the current crop that they have. I’m sure he’ll have some team success, but I don’t think that’s what he’s after.
I can’t see any way that he’s ever welcomed back at Anfield again after making the decision to run his contract down. I also can’t see it going as well as he envisions. Another Liverpool star who will find out that greener pastures don’t exist.
Bye 
But if he had been straight with the club then we would at least have had a chance of forcing their hand. Surely they would , at the very least , have been prepared to give us whatever he’s getting , no ?
Who is to say he wasn’t?
He only told them in March though.
About time. Another thread I can mute.
What was the reaction when you were sold to Japan, Legs?
Was there an uproar, or was the public understanding of your motives?
I don’t think that TAA had reached a final decision before March, and I don’t believe that anyone can speak to his thought process and mental state.
He may have been leaning towards leaving for a long time, but the club was negotiating with him as late as February/March. That doesn’t happen if he were hell bent on leaving no matter what. He isn’t some mercenary, or some prick that was stringing us along in order to secure a higher payday at his preferred destination.
In my opinion, there are no hard feelings whatsoever between the club and TAA, and the fans shouldn’t resent him either.
Thankfully he won’t be missed as Bradley is by far the better defender and has a fair bit about him going forward. Trent is fantastic with his long passes and has contributed hugely to some fantastic memories but he hasn’t consistently stood out for quite a while, imo, and other than getting no fee I’ve no problem with him going.
I’d wish him luck but that would mean that Real do well, and I’m not a fan of Real.
Bradley is a different footballer. There are things he does better than Trent but what Trent did from his position can’t be replicated anytime soon. We’ll just have to find another way to get the assists coming.
Ive seen this move as rather inevitable. Made my peace with it.
The club will continue to live on.
With Liverpool’s “no buy out clause” rule in place. This was always likely to happen.