With deadline day now having been and gone, Liverpool didn’t enter the January window for the first time in five years.
It may seem like the Reds rarely ever do any business in the New Year, but in actual fact, they’ve made a habit of it in recent years. Jurgen Klopp has regularly used the opportunity to give his squad a mid-season boost.
Not this time, though. Liverpool are going well across the board and Klopp clearly feels he has enough to see out his reign as manager. Part of that is because of the young players now coming through to the first-team. And speaking on Sky Sports last night, Jamie Carragher highlighted Conor Bradley as one who could save Liverpool millions.
“He [Bradley] has saved Liverpool a lot of money,” said the former Liverpool defender. “Because I think a lot of people, myself included, have been saying for a long time now with Trent Alexander-Arnold at right back because he is so good it is very difficult to bring someone in as back-up if they know they are not going to play more often than not. You still have to pay good money for someone like that.
“So, if you can bring someone through, but actually the performance of Conor Bradley now I think that gives Jurgen Klopp a real dilemma for what he will do at the weekend. I actually think he will stick with Conor Bradley just because he is in form, he is playing, has rhythm, which is phrase Jurgen Klopp uses quite a lot.
“Liverpool have needed back-up for Trent for a long time and they have got that and it might be a bit more than that. If Conor Bradley keeps playing at the level is at, you have to start thinking how can you get both players in the team, because you can’t leave a player of the quality of Trent out, he is one of the best players in the Premier League.”
Carragher hails Bradley impact
In our opinion, we need to hold the horses a little bit on declaring any young player as a fully-fledged member of the first-team moving forward.
Until they’ve proven themselves over a full season, anything can really still happen.
Take Neco Williams, for example. Back in 2019/20, Williams looked like he could be the Alexander-Arnold back-up Liverpool had been searching for.
The Welshman perhaps didn’t impress to the level that Bradley has done, but he still performed well when thrown in. But over the course of 33 games for the Reds, it became clear that he wasn’t quite of the level needed. He was subsequently loaned out to Fulham before being sold to Nottingham Forest.
Now, we’re not saying the same will happen to Bradley, mind you. It can easily go the other way, too. Trent himself is the perfect recent example of that. Curtis Jones is another. These two academy graduates showed over time that they are of the level required.
The early signs are that Bradley is likely to do the same. But you just never know. It’s better to er on the side of caution and wait until the 20-year-old has 40 or 50 games under his belt for Liverpool. Then we’ll truly know.
Having said all of that, we do think Bradley has what it takes to be back-up to Alexander-Arnold at the very least. If the new Reds manager sees Trent as a midfielder, a starting role could even be his.
In the immediate future, it will be fascinating to see what Klopp does at Arsenal on Sunday. We think he’ll bring Trent back in. That it’s even a conversation though shows you just how well Conor has done.
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