'UNBELIEVABLE' Liverpool player PROVES he is READY to be future captain

When he lead the Northern Ireland national team out in Zalaegerszeg, Hungary to take on Belarus last night, Conor Bradley became the youngest captain in the side’s history.

It is an enormous achievement for the 21-year old and shows that, despite being Liverpool’s backup right-back, his talent is enormous. And being held out of the team by Trent Alexander-Arnold is nothing to be ashamed of.

And it was almost the dream start for the Liverpool man as he had the ball in the back of the net just nine minutes in, only for it to be ruled out for offside.

Read more: Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson in line for SHOCK BAN

“Some of the patterns of play we’ve been working on came to fruition out there, it’s just really disappointing not to get the three points.” Bradley said in a remarkably reassured way for a young player that has just captained his country.

“I think it’s one of the best performances we’ve had for a while but the ball would not go in the back of the net…. I think if we’d have got one we could have got three or four.” He continued, “I thought we did really well to keep a clean sheet and we go again on Tuesday (against Bulgaria).”

He justified Michael O’Neill’s choice to give him the armband by putting on a great display, creating the most chances and winning the most duels of any player on the night.

“I’m just extremely proud,” he said when asked about the decision to make him captain,  “It was pretty surreal walking out with the boys behind me and having the armband on during the game was pretty special.”

Conor Bradley is ready to be future Liverpool captain

The game was held behind closed doors due to restrictions on Belarus’s national team at the moment, but it didn’t phase the resolute Bradley.

When asked about the decision, manager Michael O’Neill said, "I think Conor has shown a lot of maturity," O'Neill told the Irish Independent. "I've spoken to a lot of people at Liverpool and got their opinion, and they felt it was something he would handle.”

"One thing I've found working with Conor is that he is very, very grounded, very serious about his football, and we obviously see that in his level of performance."

He also drew praise from former Everton player and international teammate, Isaac Price, who described the Liverpool right-back as an 'unbelievable' player.

“Conor is an unbelievable footballer,” Price was quoted in the Belfast Telegraph.

“Him playing for us is massive. You can tell that by the way he plays for Northern Ireland.

“I think we have got that youthfulness about us where it’s like a don’t-really-care attitude, we’ll try stuff and we’ll take risks.

“His athleticism and his quality on the ball are great for us. Obviously, the last few games, we’ve been playing together on the right-hand side, and we feel we have a pretty good relationship.

"We’ve played together since we were 17 for Northern Ireland, so I speak to him quite a lot.

“When we are playing together, there are things that can help me and things that can help him like different movements on the ball and off the ball, just to help each other and try and make each other look as good as possible.”

Bradley’s only start in a Liverpool shirt this season came in the 5-1 League Cup victory over West Ham, and he has only played 79 of the 810 other available minutes in Red under head coach Arne Slot.

But with Trent Alexander-Arnold’s future still up in the air, it is worth the club really considering if they already have his long-term replacement in-house.

Now he's also shown that he is ready to step up into a leadership role. At 21 years old, the fact that he is already a captain of his country is an indication that he could be ready for a similar role at Liverpool in the future as well.