Liverpool told they’ve got a ‘huge’ prospect who’s going to be a star for his country

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Liverpool’s academy has been working overtime this season.

Having already delivered Jarell Quansah for the Reds’ first-team, its job had arguably been completed for 2023/24. But not content with putting forward just one player as a fully fledged member of the senior squad, the system has thrown up a second: Conor Bradley.

Bradley’s performances since jumping into the starting XI were so good that he was recently named on the shortlist for Premier League player of the month. The 20-year-old has been incredible.

One man who won’t have been surprised to see Bradley excelling is Northern Ireland manager Michael O’Neill. Having already won 13 caps for his country, the young Liverpool right back is already a regular for O’Neill. And speaking to BBC Sport this week, the 54-year-old predicted big things for Bradley.

“His level of performance coming into the Liverpool team has been fantastic,” O’Neill raved. “He was injured for the majority of the first half of the season as well so I think we would probably have seen that earlier if that hadn’t been the case. We only had him for three games out of 10 in qualification for Euro 2024. He’s going to be a huge player for us going forward.

“There’s people who’ve worked with him when he was very young with Northern Ireland tell me that if I’m brave enough to play him in midfield that I’ll see an even better player. We’ll see what comes of that. I’ll have to be brave.”

Bradley backed for stardom

Funnily, Liverpool now have a number of players who are seen as their nation’s best. There are even five current international captain’s in the Reds’ ranks.

Virgil van Dijk is of course a bona fide superstar in his own right. Although they’re not the force they once were, the Netherlands are still one of the favourites in any tournament they enter. There are always plenty of options for the armband, and Van Dijk has it at the moment.

Others, like Mohamed Salah for Egypt and Dominik Szoboszlai for Hungary, are the ‘great hopes’ of their teams.

Salah is of course a generational talent, while Szoboszlai is a megastar back in his homeland already. This brings its own kinds of pressure.

Liverpool are used to this being put on their players, having also had Sadio Mane on the books for six years. Throughout that time, Mane was seen as Senegal’s best and biggest star.

The point we’re driving at here is that with the prestige that comes for playing for Liverpool, expectation rises on the international stage.

Northern Ireland are not one of the world’s great footballing countries. They’ve had their moments, but they are unfortunately relative minnows. As he’s now gaining a big reputation of his own, that could bring challenges for Bradley within his national team.

For now, there’s no need to pile any extra pressure on Conor, especially given what he’s going through now. But when he does return, he’ll no longer be seen as the young academy hopeful he once was.

Starved of relative success for so long, Northern Ireland may now be pinning its dreams on him. That’s something he’ll have to be ready for.