I worry about nightmare Jude Bellingham scenario nobody at Liverpool is mentioning

Liverpool held a long-standing transfer interest in Jude Bellingham. But like so many others, when Real Madrid came calling, his head was turned.

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The finer details of what happened behind the scenes last summer will only ever be known to a select few. Whether Liverpool saw the rising costs and intense competition and decided to walk away, or else was directly beaten to Bellingham by the Spanish giant, is a matter for interpretation.

But the upshot was the same. Bellingham ended up at Real Madrid, where he has now become a Champions League winner — and the worst may still be to come for Liverpool.

To the club's credit, despite being without a permanent sporting director at the time, Liverpool responded well to the Bellingham setback. Alexis Mac Allister has proved to be a hugely astute piece of business, while Dominik Szoboszlai and Ryan Gravenberch have both shown signs of promise. The three of them all possess different facets of the Real Madrid star's game, with FSG effectively 'replacing him in the aggregate' in true Moneyball style.

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Meanwhile, Arne Slot will have a decision to make over how he wants to use Trent Alexander-Arnold. Primarily deployed as a full-back or later in a hybrid role under Jurgen Klopp, there is the possibility of moving him fully into midfield. Much like Bellingham, he boasts potentially generational talent, and it's a matter of harnessing that in the correct way.

As it happens, Alexander-Arnold and Bellingham have struck up a close relationship on England duty. The Real Madrid star was quick to congratulate Liverpool's vice-captain after he scored for his country last night, and the Reds ace has named Bellingham as his best friend in the national setup (via The Overlap, brought to you by Sky Bet).

Last summer, that prompted the partly tongue-in-cheek 'agent Trent' narrative, the idea being that Alexander-Arnold would help attract Bellingham to Anfield. But I now worry about the nightmare scenario where the opposite happens.

Alexander-Arnold is entering the final year of his Liverpool deal. While unusual, that in itself shouldn't be too big a cause for concern, given the aforementioned sporting director churn behind the scenes.

But it does present an opportunity for the vultures to start circling. Liverpool will no doubt be prioritizing a new contract for the homegrown star, who looks destined to one day captain the club, but plenty of other European giants would no doubt be grateful for his services.

Real Madrid has been tentatively mentioned in the past. And having just snapped up Kylian Mbappe on a free transfer, repeating the trick would no doubt seem like an appealing option.

While Alexander-Arnold obviously loves Liverpool, causing a stir when he admitted that winning trophies at Anfield means more than it would elsewhere, his hunger and drive is abundantly clear as well. He will need to be absolutely sure he can achieve his goals under Slot before deciding to stay put.

Watching Bellingham move to Real Madrid and immediately win the Champions League, the club's 15th victory in the competition, will surely make some kind of impression. A team always stacked with the very best players in world football, some part of Alexander-Arnold could no doubt see himself excelling at the Bernabeu in the same way as his national teammate.

As it stands, this is all merely the product of an overly-vivid (or perhaps just overly pessimistic) imagination. But as long as Alexander-Arnold's contract is not renewed, this worry will not go away — and while nobody at Liverpool wants to mention Real Madrid as a possibility, the Bellingham factor is making me distinctly jumpy.