Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has admitted that he made a mistake when speaking about Conor Bradley on Sunday.
Bradley has been a breakout star for the Reds this season, building on his excellent loan at Bolton Wanderers last year to become a first-team regular.
The 20-year-old filled in brilliantly for Klopp while Trent Alexander-Arnold was side lined in the early part of the year. With Bradley himself now falling victim to injury, it looks like he’ll be out for a few weeks.
In the meantime, Alexander-Arnold has returned with a bang. The 25-year-old has been Liverpool’s best player over the past couple of games.
This culminated in a stunning free-kick during Sunday’s game against Fulham, with Klopp quick to praise his No.66. However, the manager has claimed that he now made a slight error with his praise of Trent.
Jurgen Klopp clarifies Conor Bradley comments
Bradley had done a stunning job when coming into the team over the New Year. It doesn’t really bear thinking where Liverpool would be without him.
However, Bradley is not Trent. The Northern Irishman even said as much himself. Liverpool’s regular right-back is one of the best players in the world.
After the game, Klopp made a similar comment. And now, in today’s pre-Everton press conference, the 56-year-old has sought to clarify what he said.
“I hope I wasn’t misunderstood, in the last game I said Conor Bradley played a few games but Trent is Trent. I have to say Conor is Conor. Conor was for a while the best player, a revelation, unbelievably good, incredibly good. Honestly,” said Jurgen.
“Somewhere I saw the headline and I thought ‘maybe I said that but it’s not what I wanted to say’. But I spoke with Conor already which is much more important. He’s really exceptional as well.”
What did Klopp initially say about Bradley
In truth, we don’t see how Bradley would have taken anything bad from Klopp’s comments. He was simply stating facts, really.
“Conor Bradley played a few games or football where we all thought: oh, wow! What was that? But the truth is that nobody is like Trent, that’s the way it is,” he said via Sportskeeda.
Bradley did wonderfully well when called upon and no doubt has a big future at Liverpool. But there really is nobody like Trent.
With the Reds still in the mix for the title, keeping the England international fit could be the difference between silverware and no silverware. He’s just that good.