Trent Alexander-Arnol’s injury hasn’t come at the best of times for Liverpool. With Mohamed Salah away at the African Cup of Nations and Dominik Szoboszlai also injured, the Reds are about to lose a lot of creativity in the side.
But there’s also the headache of Klopp not having a direct replacement. Joe Gomez would be an obvious choice, but he’s going to be occupied covering for the injured Andy Robertson and Kostas Tsimikas.
This means there is now one natural solution in Klopp’s squad who can come in and provide cover in Alexander-Arnold’s absence.
And that’s Conor Bradley.
Lijnders’ verdict on Conor Bradley
Speaking in his press conference today as per the club’s official YouTube channel, Pep Lijnders was full of praise for Conor Bradley.
The youngster shone against Arsenal at the weekend, and Lijnders was left impressed by the way he handled the challenge of coming up against Gabriel Martineli.
“Bradley comes in, Martineli comes in, fresh, and he’s took on Conor one vs one constantly,” Lijnders said. And Conor maybe the first one not, the big diagonal he couldn’t clear but after that he reads he learns and he can clear two or three one vs ones against Martineli.
“The first one he gets outplayed, but the second one he learned and he closed the outside better.”
With Alexander-Arnold’s injury set to rule him out for at least three weeks the stage is now set for Bradley to build on that promise. He’s long been regarded as top prospect at the academy and this is now a golden opportunity for the 20-year-old make his mark in the first team.
Receive a digest of our best Liverpool content each week direct to your mailbox
