Why Liverpool simply can't compete with Real Madrid despite $97m ...

Real Madrid and Liverpool are reportedly willing to offer Trent Alexander-Arnold a similar amount in weekly wages, but the right-back would still be financially better off signing for the Spanish club — and by some distance.

That's because, although Madrid and Liverpool are both prepared to hand Alexander-Arnold a lengthy contract worth around $373,000 per week, the Bernabeu club is also in a position to be able to hand the player a bumper signing-on fee in addition to his huge weekly wage.

Madrid has made a habit of signing free agents in recent years, recruiting David Alaba, Antonio Rudiger, and — most recently and most notably — Kylian Mbappe.

Mbappe accepted a signing-on fee of $155 million when he joined Madrid. It was agreed that the money would be paid over the course of the five-year contract he signed last year, effectively boosting his earnings by a mammoth $600,000 each week. To clarify, that's $600,000 each week on top of his already monstrous salary.

It has been reported that Alexander-Arnold could be offered a $124million signing-on fee, which would work out at around $475,000 each week spread over five years — and, again, that is on top of the $373,000 each week that Madrid is apparently prepared to commit to his salary.

If those reported figures are accurate, Alexander-Arnold would stand to earn around $850,000 a week in Madrid — an amount that dwarfs what Liverpool would be able to pay him.

If he were to join Madrid, Alexander-Arnold would immediately become one of the highest-paid players in world soccer, with only a handful of players — a lot of whom are based in the lucrative Saudi Pro League — earning more money than the Liverpudlian.

Despite his allegiance to Liverpool and his status as a homegrown legend at Anfield, it is easy to see why the prospect of joining Madrid is so appealing, both financially and from a sporting perspective.

As well as being able to pay Alexander-Arnold a stratospheric amount of money, the club can also boast having won the European Cup in six of the last 11 seasons — the same amount of times that Liverpool, the competition's joint-third most-successful club, has won in its history.