Conor Bradley has put pen to paper on a new four-year contract with Liverpool, signalling the club’s faith in the youngster as new first-choice right-back.
Bradley has been thrust into the first-choice role under Arne Slot following Trent Alexander-Arnold‘s decision to leave Liverpool at the end of the season.
That came with the Northern Irishman in talks with the club over a new contract, with the player clearly seeking assurances over his long-term prospects.
And those have now been confirmed with a new contract on Saturday, with Bradley agreeing terms on a deal that will keep him at Anfield until at least 2029.
Bradley’s previous deal was set to expire in 2027, but the 21-year-old has been rewarded with a considerable pay rise on top of the security of a longer term.
Liverpool’s commitment to their No. 84 comes amid plans to trigger a £30 million release clause to sign Bayer Leverkusen wing-back Jeremie Frimpong.
The expectation is that Frimpong will challenge Bradley for the starting spot but the Dutchman could more realistically be used further forward in attack.
Asked in his announcement interview with LFCTV what his aims were after signing his new deal, Bradley said: “To play even more games but also to win more trophies.
“I think the whole point of playing football is obviously to win trophies and be successful.
“So the more of them we can win, the better it will be for me and the whole team. Hopefully if we can keep doing that, it’ll be a good next few years at the club.”
What Bradley can offer next season
Tying Bradley down to an extended deal was seen as relatively straightforward, but the player’s representatives will have known their hand was strengthened by the news of Alexander-Arnold leaving.
His signing will be a boost, then, particularly as Slot maps out the future of the right-back position in his Liverpool side.
The impending arrival of Frimpong will seemingly not heavily impact on Bradley’s game time, with it likely that the pair vie for the starting spot while the former also provides cover and competition for Mohamed Salah.
In Bradley, Liverpool have a more orthodox right-back, still outstanding going forward but also reliable in the defensive third, with Slot impressed with his relentless energy.
While before Alexander-Arnold almost served as a deep-lying playmaker, with his movement more often taking him into central areas, there will be more overlapping runs and drives into the box from his successor.
Per FBref, Bradley is in the top one percent of full-backs around Europe’s top five leagues when it comes to touches in the opposition’s penalty area (4.35) and the top four percent for progressive carries (3.68) per 90 minutes.
There will be a shift in creative responsibility as Slot moves on from Alexander-Arnold, with it more likely that this comes from the midfield, but the head coach is clearly excited about the challenge of finding a solution.
“I’m not going to change everything, but it’s different – Trent playing than Conor playing, or Joe Gomez playing, or Curtis Jones playing,” he explained earlier this month.
“So it does bring up the thing that I like about this job I’m doing, that finding answers for the qualities we have now in our team, because Conor brings in different qualities than Trent brings in.
“It is also for me, gives a bit of energy, it always gives you energy if new players come in as well, or if you just joined a new club, so last season all of them were new for me.
“It doesn’t always have to lead to something negative, let’s put it that way.”
