Cody Gakpo drops huge bombshell on Trent Alexander-Arnold's future following Premier League title win

Cody Gakpo might have dropped a major hint about the future of Liverpool right-back Trent Alexander-Arnold.

Alexander-Arnold is out of contract at the end of the season and an anticipated free transfer to Real Madrid has been widely reported.

Nothing has yet been announced either way but the futures of Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk and talismanic forward Mo Salah were tied up in the weeks before the Reds won their second league title of the Premier League era.

Sky Sports pundit and ex-Liverpool midfielder Jamie Redknapp argued after they confirmed their title that the contract situations of three senior players was a motivator, not the potential distraction many observers believed it to be.

Alexander-Arnold is the only remaining holdout and was coy about his future after a goal in Liverpool's previous game put him in front of the Sky Sports cameras last weekend.

Now, with the title secure with games to spare and the celebrations winding down inside Anfield on Sunday, a teammate ignited further uncertainty with what some fans believe and hope to have been a slip of the tongue.

Speaking long after the stands emptied with a special commemorative 'Champions 24/25' Liverpool shirt on backwards and a scarf tied around his head, Netherlands international Cody Gakpo spoke of his optimism about the future of the squad.

"Now with Mo [Salah] and Virgil [Van Dijk] staying, and hopefully Trent as well, they can keep building," said Gakpo, who scored Liverpool's third goal in Sunday's 5-1 win over Tottenham Hotspur to clinch the title.

Given the situation and the fact that Gakpo's delivery gave nothing away, that's one small comment that can be understood in a couple of big ways.

Trent Alexander-Arnold is out of contract at the end of the season (Image: Getty)

The first interpretation is that Alexander-Arnold is staying at Liverpool and Gakpo spoke out of turn.

The second is that Gakpo doesn't know any more than the rest of us and sincerely hopes that Alexander-Arnold hasn't yet made up his mind and will choose to stay at Liverpool.

Either way, it seems from Gakpo's throwaway comment that Alexander-Arnold's teammates haven't had confirmation that he's moving on.

With a switch to Real Madrid previous considered inevitable, that's a bonus glimmer of hope on a famous day for the Reds.