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Trent Alexander-Arnold has doubled down on his claim that he only started to learn Spanish five months ago, despite skepticism from Liverpool fans.
The former Reds vice-captain, of course, left Anfield during the summer, having chosen to join Real Madrid at the expiration of his contract - although Liverpool would end up getting some compensation as the Spanish giant wanted him to play in the Club World Cup.
Alexander-Arnold could be set to make his return to Merseyside next week, though, with Liverpool taking on Real in the Champions League. Despite picking up a hamstring injury last month, the 27-year-old made his return to the Madrid squad on Sunday, although he wasn’t called upon from the bench against Barcelona.
Nevertheless, a fresh injury blow for Dani Carvajal means Alexander-Arnold is now more likely to feature against his old club, and just days before returning to Anfield, he has been speaking on social media about his move to Spain.
In a video posted on Instagram by football language coach Sara Duque, who has been teaching Spanish to Alexander-Arnold, the right-back reveals he has been learning the language for five months now - around the same time he confirmed he would be leaving Liverpool.
That’s despite fans theorizing that he had been learning it for much longer after hearing him speak Spanish during his unveiling at the Bernabeu in June, although he insisted at the time he had only picked it up for “a couple of months”.
In this latest video, Alexander-Arnold speaks both Spanish and English as he explains why he started learning a new language.
"Hi, I'm Trent. I started learning Spanish with Sara five months ago,” Alexander-Arnold says in the video.
"Before that, I didn't speak a word. I wanted to learn Spanish to communicate better with my teammates, my coach, and all the Real Madrid fans.
"To adapt better to the club and the people.
"I really like the classes because they're focused on football: press conferences, interviews, and all the vocabulary I need to talk to my teammates."
Duque, who is fluent in six languages - Portuguese, Spanish, English, French, Italian, and German - and has a master’s degree in sports psychology, backed up Alexander-Arnold’s claim, captioning the video: “5 months. That’s all it took, but it wasn’t easy.
“Trent didn’t just learn Spanish. He chose to start from zero, to sound imperfect, to keep showing up, day by day.
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“When he stood on that stage in Madrid and spoke with calm, clarity, and heart, it wasn’t about fluency. It was about respect, courage, and a genuine desire to belong.
“As his language coach, that moment meant everything. Because what I saw wasn’t just a player speaking another language, it was a person growing beyond himself.
“In football, words can build trust, connection, identity. And this is what true professionalism really looks like.”
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