Everybody knew it was coming. Even if it was only confirmed yesterday, Trent Alexander-Arnold's exit from his boyhood club Liverpool, has been obvious for months; you'd have to have been living under a rock for the past nine months to have been shocked by the news.
Sporting director Richard Hughes had been battling hard to keep the revolutionary full-back on Merseyside since before even his first day in the job. However, no matter how hard he and the Liverpool hierarchy tried, Alexander-Arnold's mind was made up; he wants a new challenge.
After months of negotiations, discussions were formally ended over a new deal back in March.