Trent Alexander-Arnold, there can be no two ways about it, did not have a good game for Liverpool against Manchester United. As Jamie Carragher suggested in the aftermath, he was fortunate not to be replaced by Conor Bradley earlier than the 86th minute.

And with that being the case, the inevitable conversation around Alexander-Arnold has begun. Connected or otherwise, the Liverpool vice-captain is of strong interest to Real Madrid — and whenever he doesn't play well from here on in, there are going to be questions about whether the two things might be related.

"The bid from Real Madrid is bad timing for him," Gary Neville said live on Sky Sports post-match. "I don't know what's going to happen with him, but certainly if you've got that going into a big game, and you're a local lad, that won't be easy with the distractions.

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"Real Madrid are a hell of an animal. It was insulting from them, they behave like that and think they can get what they want. But Liverpool are a club of immense stature, they're never going to sell Trent for £20m ($25m) in January. You're taking the mickey a bit.

"That will have probably unnerved him. You can imagine his agent, family and friends asking him how he's doing, and that noise going on in his head before the game. That won't have helped."

The fact is, while Arne Slot will make the argument that there is no connection, that will be the assumption that many make. Before the game, Slot insisted that no player would be influenced by their contract situation because they play for Liverpool and are therefore used to scrutiny. Post-match, he simply put Alexander-Arnold's performance down to being one of those things.

Both of those things might well be true but the chatter and the accusations will continue regardless — and in many ways, the perception will trump the reality anyway. Someone somewhere will be lining up to analyze Alexander-Arnold's body language against Spurs midweek (or, if Bradley starts ahead of him, that will be even more of a talking point).

"The club have let these three contracts run down simultaneously — the three most valuable players in the club," Neville continued. "The problem is with clubs, and I know this from owning one, when you bring a player through the ranks it hurts you when you feel like you've got to pay for the fee again.

"Mo Salah wants a three-year deal at £400,000 a year, which is £60m overall. He probably deserves that, because to replace him you're going to have to pay £60m or £70m plus their wages, maybe £120m all-in. For Trent, a young player who's come through the ranks, you can get a little bit bullied because it's like, 'You owe us; we brought you through.'

"I'm not saying Liverpool are doing that, but there's one of three reasons he played how he did today — he's had games like that before, he could just be having a bad day or that noise in his head all week could just be too much of a distraction."

No one knows the truth — and even Alexander-Arnold himself might not be 100 percent sure of it. But equally, no one knows yet — again, maybe not even the player himself — what the outcome of the Real Madrid vs. new Liverpool contract debate might be.

One thing is for sure, though: the talk around Trent and a possible distraction has started. The only way to make it end is sign on the dotted line, or perform if not immaculately, then certainly a considerable amount better than this weekend.