“A penny for Trent Alexander Arnold’s thoughts,” said Jamie Carragher in a celebratory appreciation of Liverpool’s transfer window in The Daily Telegraph .

Carragher was reflecting on the paradigm shift at Anfield that has seen Liverpool move on from astute operators around the fringes of the Premier League’s big-money transfer market to the vanguard.

Alexander-Arnold’s move to Madrid reflects the enduring brand power of Real and, for that matter, Barcelona.

Yet, as the record spend this summer demonstrates, the Premier League is the engine of the world game, and Liverpool are setting the agenda as they did back in the Eighties.

Real Madrid are still the benchmark, of course, but without the foundational economic buttress enjoyed by the Premier League, the meaning of Madrid’s suprema

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