I was reminded of Kevin De Bruyne when the news broke on Monday morning about Trent Alexander-Arnold’s choice to depart from Liverpool at the season’s end. De Bruyne also came to mind when I noticed individuals who claimed to be Liverpool fans denouncing Alexander-Arnold as if he had committed an act of betrayal.

At my stage of life, I often find myself idolizing the footballers of the past, names like Colin Bell, Mike Summerbee, Francis Lee, Paul Lake, and Georgi Kinkladze stand out as Manchester City’s all-time greats. However, I still hold the belief that De Bruyne has surpassed them all—he is the finest to ever don the iconic sky-blue jersey and the best City player I’ve personally witnessed.

Despite this, just weeks ago, De Bruyne was told that despite all his accomplishments in Manchester, including numerous titles and championships, he was no longer needed at the Etihad. He wouldn’t receive a contract extension. Clearly, his pride was wounded and he seemed genuinely heartbroken at the prospect of leaving a club he held dear.

City fans love him and they have made that plain. I’m sure he will get a great send-off at the FA Cup final and in City’s remaining league games. But I don’t see any protests about his impending departure. Most people think it’s the right move for the club. De Bruyne has reached the end of his useful life at City so the answer is simple: see ya.

The point is, we want it both ways with footballers. We reserve the right to discard them if they are not the same after an injury, if they stop scoring, if they get slow, when they get old, if a better model comes along, if the new manager doesn’t fancy them. It happened, poignantly, to Robbie Fowler, one of Liverpool’s greatest players, when he was sold to Leeds in November 2001.

When that happens, wherever it happens, there is no talk of betrayal. There is no talk of family or of duty or of loyalty or of deception. It is accepted. It is part of the game. It is what is best for the club.

Sooner or later, it would have happened to Alexander-Arnold, too, just like it happened to Joe Hart at City, and Angel Di Maria at Real Madrid and Jaap Stam at Manchester United and Andy Carroll at Newcastle and countless other players who didn’t want to leave clubs that forced them out.

We are still oddly patriarchal about the player-club relationship, as if it is some relic of feudal times, as if we cannot shake ourselves free of the idea this is somehow about master and servant.

And so Alexander-Arnold’s decision to leave is couched in pejorative terms like ingratitude and betrayal and disloyalty, even though he has given 20 years of his life to a club and a set of supporters he adores.

None of that means I agree with statements such as ‘Alexander-Arnold doesn’t owe Liverpool anything’. I think he owes them plenty. I think he owes them for the care and attention they have given to his development, the brilliant coaching at the club’s academy that has helped him progress and the faith shown in him by men such as Jurgen Klopp, who gave him his chance in the first team.

He owes Liverpool for the life they have given him and his family and he owes the fans for the adoration they have lavished on him and the emotions they have sparked in him in moments of joy and celebration. Everything about how he behaves suggests Alexander-Arnold is deeply appreciative of all that has been done for him.

But the club and the fans owe Alexander-Arnold, too. He has given them moments of joy and abandon and pure exultation and sheer, wonderful escapism that will last for ever, moments that will sit high in the iconography of a club even with Liverpool’s glorious achievements.

I’m thinking, obviously, about the corner taken against Barcelona at Anfield in that Champions League semi-final second leg in May 2019, the corner that fooled the Barcelona defence and set up Divock Origi to score the goal that sealed one of the greatest comebacks any of us have witnessed on one of the greatest nights English football has witnessed.

It was one of the most audacious and clever and brilliantly executed pieces of skill I’ve ever seen. And it was just part of a groaning portfolio of sumptuous passes and curling, arrowing free-kicks that have made Alexander-Arnold such a wonderful player to watch during his time at Anfield.

Those memories are gifts that keep on giving. Those memories do not deserve to be tarnished by idiotic accusations of ingratitude. The truth is Alexander-Arnold was good for Liverpool and Liverpool were good for him.

He has not broken his contract or agitated to leave ahead of time or refused to play or derailed Liverpool’s title challenge or bad-mouthed the club or the city. 

He has given everything, right until the end, and made a huge contribution to the winning of a record-equalling 20th league title.

He should be departing for the challenge of playing abroad for Real Madrid, garlanded with thanks. And, by many match-going Liverpool supporters, he will be. 

I’m sad Alexander-Arnold is leaving, because I loved watching him play at English league grounds, but I know I’m lucky I got to see him shine for as long as I did.

Hopes fading for Hamilton 

I still hope Lewis Hamilton’s move to Ferrari provides him with the platform he craves to win his eighth world drivers’ title but the chances of that happening are looking increasingly forlorn.

A spat between a driver and his team is not unknown but for Hamilton to aim a public and brutally disparaging barb at Ferrari during the Miami Grand Prix by saying ‘have a tea break while you’re at it’ to ridicule their decision-making process is the type of insult to professionalism and competence that both sides may find it hard to recover from.

Harry gets his hands on gold

Only a curmudgeon – or Arsenal supporters – would begrudge Harry Kane, who won the Bundesliga with Bayern Munich on Sunday, his first trophy in the professional game.

Kane is weighed down with individual awards for scoring feats already but his triumph in Germany is a reward for one of England’s greatest goalscorers and a brilliant professional.