Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has admitted that Reds talent Conor Bradley would’ve had a lot of senior minutes already but for injury.
The Liverpool boss was speaking to Sky Sports ahead of the Reds’ Premier League meeting away at Luton on Sunday.
Bradley enjoyed a superb campaign away from Liverpool on loan last time out. He helped get Bolton to the League One playoff semi-finals.
The 19-year-old clocked up 53 competitive club appearances last term, as well as winning eight senior caps for Northern Ireland.
However, Bradley is yet to play competitively this season.
The right-back picked up a back injury during pre-season, having served as Trent Alexander-Arnold‘s understudy in Liverpool’s first two friendlies.
‘Attacking threat’
Earlier this week, Pep Lijnders provided an update on Bradley ahead of the Reds’ Carabao Cup match with West Ham.
“Conor is not in team training but he is getting really close,” he told the Liverpool media team.
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“He is with the ball, he is doing all these things with [Andreas] Schlumberger and that looks promising.
“It will be great to have him back because we know that he can be a really attacking threat on our right side.”
Now, Klopp has spoken about Liverpool’s current injury situation, and admitted that Bradley would’ve been featuring a lot for the Reds.
“Robbo [Andy Robertson] is a big miss, Thiago, of course. Conor [Bradley] would have had a lot of minutes already,” he told Sky Sports.
Bradley looks like a star in the making for Liverpool – TBR View
Bradley is an “incredible talent” – as Klopp himself said in 2021 – and it’s a shame he’s been out with injury, but it looks like it shouldn’t be long before he’s back.
Liverpool have done some great work on the academy graduate front in recent years, with so many top talents going on to represent the first team.
Hopefully once Bradley returns to full fitness, he can go on to follow in the footsteps of Alexander-Arnold, Harvey Elliott, Curtis Jones and Ben Doak.