Sad news: We will need him back in the next season say’s….

I spent a year watching Conor Bradley play for Bolton Wanderers; it was clear he was going to be a big star at Liverpool.

Conor Bradley was squatting in the goalmouth at Barnsley’s Oakwell ground on a Friday night in May of last year, tears running down his cheeks.

The opposition supporters behind the goal repeatedly chanted, “There’s only one Conor Bradley.” However, this marked the conclusion.

The Liverpool defender had made such an impression at Bolton Wanderers in just one season that nobody was truly prepared for the player’s final farewell, least of all himself. Everyone knew the day had arrived when a League One play-off semi-final was lost.

Gethin Jones, Bradley’s old Bolton teammate, stated recently, “We were hoping that if we got promoted, he’d come back to us in the Championship.” “He was probably thinking it himself, which is why he got so upset.”

In only a few short months, not many loan players are able to create such a bond, but Bradley wasn’t your typical loan player. Everyone at Bolton could see, without fail, that he was a unique ability right away.

Bradley used his speed and dribbling prowess to cause the Tractor Boys all kinds of issues in the season opener against Ipswich, a team now vying for promotion to the Premier League. Before halftime, Bradley won a penalty.

He was excellent in his debut home game, helping his team defeat Wycombe 3-0 and setting up a goal. In the Carabao Cup three days later, he scored a goal against Salford while being rested to the bench.

He netted the game’s lone goal against Morecambe one week later. Bradley is skilled at leaving an immediate impression.

Despite his small frame, he was unexpectedly strong in defense, fearless, and had incredible energy to play the entire game at full speed.

Bradley always gave his all for the purpose; his commitment to training inspired teammates, who he sought guidance from and were eager to comprehend every aspect of Bolton’s game so that he could fit in.

For all of those reasons, he won over the audience right away. This was the first time he had regularly performed in front of a large crowd, and he said as much in interviews.

Which Bolton player ought to I be on the lookout for? When we were chit-chatting before an interview with FourFourTwo magazine in late August 2022, former vice chairman of Arsenal David Dein asked me whose team I supported.

Even though the Northern Irishman had only appeared in seven games for the team at that point, it was obvious that he had a bright future ahead of him when I remarked, “Conor Bradley, on loan from Liverpool.”

Bradley was still 18 years old when he signed in the summer of 2022; it was his first loan away from Anfield, and the team acknowledged that they didn’t know much about him.

But months before, Trotters manager Ian Evatt had attempted to sign him, and he had finally found a player he thought would be ideal for the right wing-back position in his 3-5-2 formation.

In a preseason match against Stockport, two weeks prior, Bradley had scored with an angled right-foot shot that he arrowed across a goalkeeper and into the far corner. The finish was strikingly identical to the one he scored for Liverpool against Chelsea on Wednesday. It looked like Bolton had a player on their hands, even in a friendly.