Agent Jude! Bellingham 'intervening' in Real Madrid's pursuit of Trent Alexander-Arnold as Liverpool star backed to join 'best friend' at Santiago Bernabeu

The Liverpool right-back has run down his contract at Anfield and is widely expected to reject a new deal in order to join Real Madrid for free in the summer. And Pennant has little doubt that his close friend Bellingham is trying to convince him to come to the Santiago Bernabeu.

Alexander-Arnold and Bellingham celebrated together when the midfielder scored England's opening goal of Euro 2024 against Serbia and it is no secret that they are close. The defender told Gary Neville last year on The Overlap that Bellingham was his best friend outside of his club, citing Andrew Robertson as his closest friend at Liverpool.

Pennant told AS: "That's how it seems. I think he'll probably go to Real Madrid to play with his best friend, Jude. I'm sure Jude is intervening a little bit. 'Agent Jude' as they say. I'm sure they've had that conversation. They are happy together, they've played great football and I think that Trent will end up at Madrid."

Madrid have become experts at signing top players on free transfers. They convinced David Alaba to sign as a free agent in 2021 after running down his contract with Bayern Munich and the following year Antonio Rudiger did the same after his deal with Chelsea expired. Madrid pulled off the mother of all free transfers when they landed Kylian Mbappe last year although they did have to pay the France star a reported £128 million ($158m) as a signing-on fee. Alexander-Arnold would not be able to garner the same type of fee as Mbappe but would still be likely to receive a big personal windfall in exchange for joining the 15-times European champions.

Pennant said he would have no hard feelings if Trent did end up at Madrid. He added: "It's difficult because he's from the academy he's been in the club since he was a child. But at the same time he's given everything to Liverpool and he has won everything with his club: Premier League, Champions League, FA Cup, Club World Cup...every trophy he could have won he has won. He has been a great servant. I think it's simple, he's reached a moment in his career where he wants a different challenge. When a club like Real Madrid knock on your door, it's very, very difficult to look the other way and reject the offer, especially when you've won everything with your club. As a Liverpool fan I'll wish him well if he leaves in the end and I hope he has a good career there."