Real Madrid holds Trent Alexander-Arnold 'meeting' in worst-case scenario for Liverpool

Real Madrid has reportedly held internal meetings about the prospect of bringing forward the club's swoop for Trent Alexander-Arnold to January.

It is no secret that the Reds defender is Madrid's No.1 target to fill the right-back position at the Bernabeu after Dani Carvajal suffered a season-ending knee injury.

Carvajal ruptured two ligaments as well as a tendon in his right knee during a La Liga match against Villarreal at the beginning of October, and Carlo Ancelotti's side is currently incredibly thin on options on defense.

Carvajal, Eder Militao and David Alaba are all in different stages of their recoveries from knee ligament injuries, while Lucas Vazquez, who had been deputizing for Carvajal at right-back, is also now sidelined after sustaining an adductor injury.

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Those injuries leave Ancelotti with just Ferland Mendy, Antonio Rudiger, Jesus Vallejo and Fran Garcia currently available in defense for the European champions.

Spanish outlet Marca says Madrid is contemplating whether to try and sign Alexander-Arnold in January to ease the team's injury crisis.

Alexander-Arnold is out of contract at Anfield at the end of the season and, as things stand, will be allowed to negotiate a free summer transfer with a foreign club from January 1 onwards.

The report says Madrid views Alexander-Arnold as a 'sure thing' for next summer, but that the club would be willing to pay a transfer fee in order to land him a few months earlier.

However, it is claimed that Madrid does not want to sour relations with Liverpool and trying to sign Alexander-Arnold in January, and potentially disrupting the Reds' season as well as affecting the player's focus, risks doing exactly that.

Ancelotti previously said that he will not be asking for any new additions in January but that was before the injuries to Militao and Vazquez. "I have not asked for new signings in January as last year we managed the situation well," Ancelotti said in October. "The same will happen this year."

Regarding a possible contract extension for Alexander-Arnold at Liverpool, the player himself said in September that he has no intention of letting negotiations play out in public.

"I want to be a Liverpool player this season [as a minimum] is what I will say," the 26-year-old said. "I have been at the club 20 years now. I have signed four or five contract extensions and none of those have been played out in public - and this one won't be either."