Liverpool attempted three different right-back options between Trent Alexander-Arnold’s hamstring injury against Aston Villa in early September and his comeback to the Premier League starting lineup against Brighton last time out. Joe Gomez has been the most frequently used Plan B, appearing in five games so far, but midfielders Curtis Jones and Stefan Bajeti have also been called up.

Gomez looked the best of the three, perhaps because he’s had the most time to adjust, but none of them appeared totally at ease with being asked to fill Alexander-Arnold’s shoes. That’s logical, given that the vice-captain has a particular role to play, and none of the trio would consider themselves to be right-backs, let alone inverted ones.

To this point, you could argue that Conor Bradley, a 20-year-old academy graduate who played in pre-season friendly against Karlsruher and Greuther Fürth, has looked like the most natural understudy. Yes, those are German second division teams, but to be fair to Bradley, he has been sidelined by injury.

The good news is that he’s getting closer to returning. Jürgen Klopp stated ahead of the trip to Brighton that Bradley is ‘on his way back’ and has resumed running at the AXA Training Centre, although he stressed that Liverpool will manage his reintegration carefully given his youth and the nature of the problem (via Liverpool’s official website). That report appeared to be broadly consistent with the initial prognosis of a probable November comeback.

So the question is whether Bradley will be Alexander-Arnold’s finest understudy. Klopp stated in the summer that the ‘door was open’ for him to join the first team (via This is Anfield), but he’ll be disappointed if he misses out on starting opportunities in the Europa League group stage and early Carabao Cup rounds.

Those events, as well as the FA Cup, may yet provide one or two opportunities, and we shouldn’t count out important Premier League activity. That may appear harsh, but consider Jarell Quansah, who has impressed in all of his first-team appearances (including complete Premier League and Europa League debuts) following a loan spell with League One Bristol Rovers last year.

Bradley was one of the league’s standout performers during a concurrent loan spell with Bolton Wanderers, scoring five goals and providing five assists in 41 league appearances to earn a clean sweep of the club’s end-of-season awards (Player of the Season, Players’ Player of the Season, and Young Player of the Season). It was a spell that, in Klopp’s words, “raised the profile of a talent that only ‘football nerds’ had previously recognized” (via The Athletic).

Bradley has already established himself as a full international for Northern Ireland, having 13 caps to his name. Jonny Evans, who returned to Manchester United last summer, praised Bradley’s’superb’ performance in a 2-1 win over Kosovo in 2022, and backed him to ‘bring the country forward’ (via talkSPORT), while Viaplay Sports pundit Ian Dowie described him as ‘quality’ after a 2-0 win over San Marino in March.

All of this should pique Anfield’s interest ahead of Bradley’s likely return next month. While much of the attention will undoubtedly be on the rehabilitation timelines for high-profile individuals like Thiago and Cody Gakpo, we shouldn’t underestimate Bradley’s potential value.