Right-back will require surgery and could be out for up to six months
Liverpool right-back Conor Bradley will require surgery after sustaining a knee injury against Arsenal last week, and he could be out for up to six months.
It is a devastating blow for the player, who had started to put in top-level performances for the club at right-back and would have fancied his chances of locking down the No 2 spot for the rest of the season.
Take his performance against Arsenal. Arguably Liverpool’s best chance that night at the Emirates came when Bradley drove down the right in one of his characteristic marauding runs, dropping off a pass for the right winger Jeremie Frimpong that was slightly overhit, but after William Saliba had played a poor pass back to David Raya that the goalkeeper barely managed to boot out, it landed to Bradley. The full-back, occupying the right half-space at that point, floated the ball back in over the opposition heads, and it seemed destined for the net but he was just unlucky to have it bounce off the bar.
Performances like that have impressed Liverpool’s supporters. Endearing as well is his propensity for imperious tackles, the type that has the fans roaring in excitement on the big nights. It’s worth noting that Bradley was billed as one of Liverpool’s biggest options for replacing Trent Alexander-Arnold after the England defender left for Real Madrid in the summer. The Northern Irishman isn’t quite on the same level in terms of creativity, but he does have his special attributes.
It makes it more of a pity, then, that he has been hindered by injury problems. Bradley has suffered seven injury setbacks in the three and a half years since he joined Liverpool’s first team. The latest is his third just this season alone, and it might be the worst he has ever experienced.
After twisting his leg while trying to clear under pressure at the Emirates, he had to be stretchered off. Before then Arsenal’s Gabriel Martinelli thought he was time-wasting and tried to drag him off the pitch, invoking the ire of Liverpool’s players, and then of pundits and fans on social media afterwards.
Martinelli apologised to Bradley via text before also going on social media for a second apology.
Arne Slot said Liverpool were fearing the worst as they waited for updates on the player, and then scans showed Bradley did not actually sustain an anterior cruciate ligament injury as could have been the case, although he did sustain enough damage to his knee to require surgery that would keep him out for around half a year.
Without him, Liverpool will have to find alternatives in the right-back position, in a defence and squad already stretched taut by injuries. Frimpong has been playing as a right winger in the absence of Mohamed Salah and as Liverpool try to bolster a defensively fragile side. It means he will have to drop back to right-back, but given he has also struggled for fitness this season, Slot will be left sweating with selection issues, even though of course he will undoubtedly be pained regarding the wellbeing of Bradley as a person.
