Bolton Wanderers manager Ian Evatt has admitted that he tried to sign Conor Bradley from Liverpool last January.
Bradley has impressed since joining Bolton last month. And as quoted in The Bolton News, Evatt has shared just how impressed he’s been with the young right-back.
“I must say that Liverpool and the grounding that they give their players is excellent,” he said.
“All the due diligence we do on Conor and his character – I mean, you don’t get into Jurgen’s first team and you don’t play international football at 18-year-old unless you’ve got a really strong and good character. Everything I have seen from him is exactly that, so we had done a lot of homework on him and it is proving right.”
Evatt then claimed that Bolton were keen to do a deal with Liverpool for Bradley in January. But they couldn’t get it over the line.
“He was our first choice in January,” the manager said. “We just couldn’t get him and we didn’t get a bad second one with Marlon (Fossey), but I think we’re seeing glimpses of what he can do for this football club.”
Bradley impressive early on
Bradley has very much hit the ground running at Bolton. After claiming two assists on his debut, he scored his first goal for them in mid-week, rifling in an excellent finish from the right-hand side of the penalty box.
He looks set to be a big player for the League One side as they look to improve on a ninth-placed finish last season.
In some ways, it’s a little bit of a shame that he wasn’t able to join the Trotters in January. That would have allowed him to get six months more first-team football under his belt.
Instead, he played only once for Liverpool after the turn of the year. Of course, it will help learning from the players around the AXA Training Centre. Bradley also has one of the very best in the world in his position to learn from in Trent Alexander-Arnold.
But nothing beats getting out there and playing games.
It looks like Bradley will get the chance to do that at Bolton. Already an established international, the 18-year-old will be keen to show that he can cut the mustard week-in-week-out as well.
If he can keep these high standards up, he could still have a long-term future at Liverpool for sure.
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