Trent Alexander-Arnold has returned from injury, and Liverpool will hope he can play a significant role in navigating a potentially defining run of fixtures. But amid continued speculation away from the pitch, a club legend has told him he needs to step up and "be a man".
The contract situation has been a constant asterisk on the success in Arne Slot's debut season. Every good Alexander-Arnold performance has been a reminder that he could walk away for nothing in the summer, while Virgil van Dijk and Mohamed Salah have been providing even more frequent on-pitch prompts about the importance of settling their respective futures.
Rebuillding without any of them would present Slot with a Herculean task in his second season. But his focus for the time being will be on ending his first Anfield campaign with silverware.
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That, however, requires total focus. And while Salah and Van Dijk have repeatedly obliged reporters with updates about their contracts, before quickly pushing the emphasis back onto the football, Alexander-Arnold has essentially said nothing at all.
The one thing he has said is that all of his previous contract extensions have played out in private, and that these negotiations will be no different. But while it might come from a place of respect for Liverpool, the radio silence amid overtures from Real Madrid is turning his situation into even more of a circus.
Liverpool legend Mark Lawrenson has called on Alexander-Arnold to be honest about his plans. He believes it would be in everyone's best interests:
"Trent's going, isn't he?" mused Lawrenson on the Off The Ball podcast. "To be honest with you, if he is, I'd like him to actually say "by the way, I'm going to play until the end of the season, and then I'm going to look elsewhere."
"And you know what, Liverpool fans would go "great." He's won everything.
"But this thing about not saying anything, I really really don't get it. Just stand up, be a man, and say "look, this has been absolutely fab and I've loved every single minute of it, I'm a local boy but I'm going to go somewhere else." And you know what, good luck to you."
Of course, this all assumes that Alexander-Arnold has already made up his mind. It may be the case that he is still making his decision, in which case he is not in a position to make any such proclamation.
But even an admission from Alexander-Arnold that he is still weighing up his options would be welcome at this point. By making Lawrenson and others guess at his intentions, he is opening himself up to theories like the one put forward by the former Match of the Day pundit.
Having said that, it's impossible to approve of the "be a man" sentiment, which feels a little clunky and outdated. Additionally, Lawrenson is surely being optimistic with his prediction of how Liverpool fans would react.
In the cold light of day, it is possible to understand why Alexander-Arnold might want to experience a new challenge at Real Madrid, having achieved everything possible at his boyhood club. But supporters will still wonder whether he might have considered signing a new deal, at least allowing his beloved Liverpool to bank a transfer fee.
Realistically, the Real Madrid opportunity may not even be there without the fact that Alexander-Arnold will be a free agent, and he is well within his rights to flex his player power to engineer his next move. But his farewell would not be without a trace of bitterness.
Signing off with another Premier League title, however, would certainly soften the blow. Regardless of how he chooses to conduct himself in the media, Alexander-Arnold must make sure he steps up where it really counts between now and the end of the campaign.
