Carlo Ancelotti has refused to be drawn on Real Madrid's January transfer window activity amid reports of multiple approaches for Liverpool defender Trent Alexander-Arnold, but did not deny the rumours of his side's interest.
The England right-back is heading towards being a free agent this summer, with no sign of an agreement on a new Liverpool contract forthcoming.
Alexander-Arnold is a known Madrid target, but it was initially thought the European champions would happily wait until the end of the season for him.
However, with pressure on the squad due to Dani Carvajal’s season-ending injury and no natural replacement, talk of trying to secure a cut-price January deal has become louder.
It has been reported that Ancelotti himself is primarily behind the push to get the England international on board this month, with Madrid already knocked back once and seemingly prepared to pay up to a maximum of £20m (€24m) rather than be without him until next season.
But the Madrid boss was closely guarded in his response to transfer questions at Thursday’s press conference, insisting it is too busy to think about such things amid a congested fixture list.
“Talking about this in this context is more complicated, we’ll see,” he said. “We have a lot of games in January and we’re focused on this. It’s not easy for me to talk about the market now.”
When the subject was raised a second time, Ancelotti added:
“I don’t want to talk about it because I don’t think it’s the right time to talk about it here. We’ll see what happens, but I’m delighted with the squad we have.”
Madrid is an attractive option to Alexander-Arnold, who has openly said that he wants to become the first full-back to win the Ballon d’Or and an added bonus is the existing presence of close friend Jude Bellingham at the Bernabeu, which would help ease his transition to a brand new life.
