Sam McGuire: Conor Bradley CANNOT replace Trent Alexander-Arnold

While it isn’t yet official, there’s now an acceptance that Trent Alexander-Arnold is leaving Liverpool on a free transfer this summer to join Real Madrid.

This has been the worst kept secret in football. The vice-captain claimed all of this wouldn’t be played out in public but has sat idly by while the Real Madrid mouthpieces have revealed all of the details about his impending move to the Spanish capital.

The boyhood scouser made his intentions clear when he refused to comment on his future. Attention has now turned to how you replace one of the best creative players in world football.

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The likes of Fabrizio Romano and David Ornstein are downplaying the idea that Liverpool might use the transfer market to find a successor to the England intentional.

Speaking on the Here We Go podcast, Romano said: “In terms of right-back, what I’m hearing is that they are very happy with Conor Bradley. They believe that Conor Bradley can be part of this future Liverpool squad. They believe he’s a huge talent.

“The responsibility of being the starting right-back at Liverpool is going to be completely different, but they feel this boy has everything in place in order to become an important player for Arne Slot.

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“I was there at Anfield, Liverpool-Real Madrid game in November, I think, November, December, I don’t remember. There was a tackle from Conor Bradley and the reaction from the crowd, the reaction from Anfield, I think was the perfect start of a new story. That moment shows how Liverpool as a club, but also as a fan base, is ready to trust this boy, is ready to trust Conor Bradley. Then let’s see what they do on the market, but Conor Bradley internally is considered the next big thing at right-back and they fully trust him for the future.”

Earlier in the month, when doing a Q&A for The Athletic, Ornstein was whether he knew of any names on Liverpool’s radar for if Alexander-Arnold was to leave Anfield this summer and his response was: “Is Bradley not the heir apparent if Alexander-Arnold leaves? Quansah and Gomez can play there too. That doesn’t rule out recruitment but I don’t think it would be at the top of the priority list.”

And while it would be naive for Liverpool to advertise their need for a right-back, it weakens their hand in negotiations, it would also be extremely naive to think the Reds could head into the season with Bradley as one of their first choice full-backs.

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On talent alone, it would be a no-brainer.

Bradley has all of the tools needed to be a Premier League quality right-back. He made an impression last season when filling in for Alexander-Arnold and he had one of the standout moments of a memorable 2024/25 season when he nailed Kylian Mbappe in a Champions League match against Real Madrid.

But availability is arguably more important than ability.

Bradley has the latter but not so much the former.

Since joining Liverpool’s first-team ahead of the 2023/24 season, the 21-year-old has missed 47 games through injury, per transfermarkt. He’s had four different issues. A back injury delayed the start of his debut campaign with the Reds. An ankle injury threatened to prematurely end his 2023/24 outing. This season, he’s had two separate hamstring issues. He’s currently out and that is why Arne Slot had to play Jarell Quansah at full-back in the Carabao Cup final.

Now, injuries can’t be used as a predictor, but do you really think the Reds can go into the 2025/26 season with Bradley as their first-choice right-back?

He’s appeared in just shy of 1,100 minutes in the English top-flight across two seasons with Liverpool. Bradley’s made just two starts in the league this term. Even if he manages to stay fit, to scale his involvement from, say, on average, 600 minutes to 3,000 is asking for trouble. Look at how Ryan Gravenberch’s legs have fallen off as the season has progressed. He went from barely playing to basically playing every single minute. If the load management isn’t spot on, performances take a hit.

The same thing would happen with Bradley, even though he has one season under his belt of playing 4,000 minutes. That was while on loan at Bolton and I do wonder if that exposure to first-team football at 19, especially at that volume, has played a part in him being broken for the best part of two seasons.

Stuff like that needs to be done gradually and you need a good pre-season so you are conditioned for the rigours.

The contract situation further complicates things for Liverpool and Bradley.

He has just two years left on his £10,000-per-week deal and he’s already turned down an offer while he waits to see what the club’s plans are for the right-back position this summer.

The Reds aren’t going to want to tie themselves into a long-term deal with a potentially injury prone player. Bradley isn’t going to want to agree to anything without knowing what his role is, not when there’s interest in him from Premier League clubs as well as a number of Bundesliga clubs.

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Richard Hughes could do without this in what is quickly turning into a summer of change. One things for sure though, if Liverpool want to be title contenders next season, Bradley cannot be an undisputed starter at right-back. He'd be a ticking time bomb there.

Someone like Martim Fernandes could be a shrewd addition to help manage the workload and minutes.