Liverpool have had some great success from their academy over the course of the season.
As well as the steps taken by Curtis Jones to finally become a regular in the starting XI, a number of other young players have made their mark on Jurgen Klopp’s first-team.
One of those has been right-back Conor Bradley. After putting in a top performance on his Premier League debut on Sunday, Bradley must be on top of the world right now.
His impact at Liverpool comes on the back of an excellent year at Bolton last season. And speaking in his pre-Fulham press conference this morning, assistant manager Pep Lijnders said that the spell in League One had been so important for Bradley’s development.
“The right moments, the right loan makes a big difference,” Lijnders admitted. “Find the right timings to play in the lower league but it’s really important that he goes to the right manager who did an unbelievable job, the right style of play.” The Dutchman also went on to praise the potential of fellow youth-team full-back Owen Beck.
“Two years ago Owen Beck and Conor Bradley in the second team, the right side, the left side, they dominated the complete channel, offensively and defensively. We knew, it’s not a surprise what he’s doing. We always believed it, it’s part of our project to bring these young players. He [Bradley] was not a player who went on loan to create a mark, he went on loan to come back and play. He was really unlucky with the injury, you saw pre-season, it was impressive.”
Don’t forget about Beck
When Bradley initially broke through to the first-team in 2021/22, he did so at the same time as Beck. Indeed, both impressed equally on their first steps in the senior squad.
Liverpool coaches clearly saw what the two of them were doing in tandem in the youth teams.
Perhaps the difference in how both are now perceived is exactly what Lijnders alludes to here – a good loan spell.
While Bradley hit the ground running and never looked back at Bolton last season, Beck had a trickier time of things.
A move to Portugal with Famalicao looked a strange one at the time and never worked out at all. You can then see what Liverpool were thinking linking Beck back up with Bradley at Bolton, but the left-back could never settle there either.
Had Beck headed for the Trotters at the same time as Bradley you can’t help but feel that they’d both have the same reputation right now. Instead, the Welshman has had to bide his time. Thankfully, he was able to show his quality when at Dundee for the first part of 2023/24.
Ask anyone, and they’d likely tell you the Northern Irishman is now the better bet to make it into Klopp’s plans long-term. But Beck shouldn’t be forgotten about.
Lijnders and Klopp clearly still remember their days of dominating the youth team’s from either flank. It was completely fitting that they both made their Premier League debuts on the same day. Two talents who we really think can make it at Liverpool.
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