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Official: Trent Alexander-Arnold Joins Real Madrid From Liverpool For €10m As He’ll Play In The Club World Cup—-Real Madrid have reached an agreement with Liverpool to sign Trent Alexander-Arnold early — enabling the right-back to be available for their entire Club World Cup campaign.

The Spanish club will pay €10million (£8.4m; $11.4m) in a single payment for Alexander-Arnold, with the deal worth even more to Liverpool as they will no longer cover the remaining salary and bonuses he is owed.

The 26-year-old will sign a six-year contract with his new side.

The deal was agreed on Monday but was delayed after a man drove into a crowd during Liverpool’s title celebrations in the city, with 79 people injured following the incident.

Alexander-Arnold was scheduled to join the Spanish giants as a free agent after his terms at Anfield expire on June 30. That would have seen him miss Madrid’s three group-stage fixtures at the Club World Cup in the United States.

The 15-time European champions contacted Liverpool to express an interest in Alexander-Arnold being released sooner and talks ensued to find a solution. Eventually, a compromise was struck and the England international will now move with immediate effect.

In October, FIFA approved a proposal that would allow national associations the option to create an “exceptional registration window” from June 1 to June 10 so teams could register new players ahead of the Club World Cup.

Had Madrid waited until the end of Alexander-Arnold’s Liverpool contract on June 30 to sign him for free, they could have registered him for the knockout stage of the competition using the mid-tournament registration window FIFA has added from June 27 to July 3. It means, in effect, Madrid are paying €10m for the extra month so the defender can feature in their group-stage games against Al Hilal (June 18), Pachuca (June 22) and Red Bull Salzburg (June 26).

Madrid did not just target Alexander-Arnold as a potential free transfer — they were prepared to pay €40m to sign him in January, but Liverpool did not entertain the possibility with the player also prioritising his side’s Premier League title campaign.

The Englishman’s exit from his boyhood club saw him booed by fans at Anfield when he came on as a substitute against Arsenal on May 11, the first game after he announced his intention to depart. In April, two posters were put around Liverpool about Alexander-Arnold’s expiring contract, which went viral on social media. Following Liverpool’s final game of the season, the 1-1 home draw against Brighton & Hove Albion, Alexander-Arnold was cheered when he lifted the Premier League trophy as part of the club’s title celebrations.

Madrid had planned to bring in a right-back since the beginning of the season, and since at least October, they made Alexander-Arnold their first choice.

So, confident after the feedback received from the English player’s side, the club tried to bring his arrival forward to the January transfer window — Liverpool didn’t engage.

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BREAKING: Victor Osimhen Stars As Nigeria Beat Algeria To Set Up Morocco Semi-Final Clash

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Nigeria Beat Algeria To Set Up Morocco Semi-Final Clash

BREAKING: Victor Osimhen Stars As Nigeria Beat Algeria To Set Up Morocco Semi-Final Clash—-The Super Eagles of Nigeria have qualified for the semi-final of the ongoing Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco.

The Super Eagles pulled off a stunning display to beat Algeria 2-0 in their quarter-final clash on Saturday evening, to book their spot.

Eric Chelle’s men dominated the Desert Foxes for most of the first half, but failed to find the back of the net.

The closest Nigeria came to opening the scoring, came when Calvin Bassey’s effort was cleared off the line.

But in the second half, Victor Osimhen headed in Bruno Onyemaechi’s cross, before setting up Akor Adams for the second goal.

The three-time African champions will now clash with the hosts Morocco for a place in the final.

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The Atlas Lions of Morocco Reaches AFCON 2025 Semis, As Indomitable Lions of Cameroon Bows Out

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Morocco Reaches AFCON 2025 Semis

The Atlas Lions of Morocco Reaches AFCON 2025 Semis, As Indomitable Lions of Cameroon Bows Out—-Brahim Diaz continued his remarkable Africa Cup of Nations scoring streak and Ismael Saibari added another as hosts Morocco saw off Cameroon 2–0 in a tense quarter-final on Friday, keeping their title dreams firmly on track.

Roared on by more than 64,000 fans in Rabat, Real Madrid winger Diaz got the crucial touch to Ayoub El Kaabi’s 26th-minute header at the Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium.

Diaz’s fifth goal in five games and a second-half strike from Saibari earned Morocco a deserved win and a semi-final meeting with the winner of Algeria vs Nigeria.

The semi-final is likely to present a much tougher challenge for Walid Regragui’s team than Cameroon, who had aimed to spring an upset after surpassing expectations by progressing this far despite a difficult build-up to the tournament.

Five-time African champions Cameroon were largely toothless in attack, with Manchester United forward Bryan Mbeumo kept quiet throughout.

Morocco, Africa’s top-ranked team and World Cup semi-finalists in 2022, are under enormous pressure to win the Cup of Nations in front of their own fans, half a century after their last continental title.

There have been doubts as to whether they can handle the weight of expectation, but they remain on course to achieve their objective –- it is the first time Morocco have reached the AFCON semi-finals since they lost the 2004 final to Tunisia.

The hosts were unchanged from their 1-0 last-16 win over Tanzania as they looked to continue an unbeaten record going back to their defeat by South Africa at the 2024 AFCON.

Fresh from knocking out South Africa in the last round here, Cameroon were clearly banking on frustrating Morocco as much as possible in an attempt to turn the crowd against the home side.

Morocco were beaten by the Cameroonians in the semi-finals the last time they hosted AFCON in 1988, but a repeat outcome never really looked likely.

David Pagou’s team were not helped by the early loss of right wing-back Jackson Tchamadeu, who tried to carry on after Noussair Mazraoui landed heavily on his knee before eventually being stretchered off.

Moments after that, Morocco scored. Achraf Hakimi sent in a corner from the right which was headed towards goal by El Kaabi at the near post, and the ball struck Diaz in the groin before going in.

That calmed a frenetic home support, who cheered their team off at the break after seeing Abde Ezzalzouli and El Kaabi come close to adding further goals.

Morocco were on top, and Cameroon’s response was to change formation after the break, from a back three to a 4-2-3-1, in an attempt to create more danger.

Ezzalzouli headed just over from a Hakimi corner, and then a cross by the Paris Saint-Germain star caused havoc in the Cameroon box as Samuel Kotto hooked the ball away from the line.

Mbeumo had appeals for a penalty dismissed by the Mauritanian referee before PSV Eindhoven’s Saibari fired in the killer second goal on 74 minutes after controlling Ezzalzouli’s dead-ball delivery, as Morocco march on to Wednesday’s semis.

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