Conor Bradley has saluted the impact of Florian Wirtz and declared himself free from fitness problems for Liverpool
Conor Bradley of Liverpool
Conor Bradley of Liverpool(Image: Liverpool FC/Liverpool FC via Getty Images)
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Conor Bradley believes Liverpool are fortunate to have Florian Wirtz in their team as the attacking midfielder's improvement continues. Wirtz scored his first goal since arriving in the summer from Bayer Leverkusen in a £116million deal when netting in the 2-1 home Premier League win over Wolves last Saturday.
December proved a profitable month for the Germany international, with an assist at Tottenham Hotspur, forcing an own goal against Sunderland and winning the decisive penalty in the Champions League at Inter.
And Bradley has expressed his delight at the 22-year-old Wirtz finally getting off the mark at the 23rd attempt for the Reds.
"I was buzzing for him," said Bradley. "Obviously he's had to wait a little bit of time for it, but I was so happy for him.
"He's such a terrific player. We see it in training every day, how good he is with the ball.
"You'd rather have him on your team than not on your team, put it that way. He's terrific to have.
"You can sort of just give him the ball in any area of the pitch and he's able to do something with it and keep the ball for us. He's so important to have and we're lucky to have him."
Bradley came off the bench for the final half-hour against Wolves and made an important intervention to prevent visiting substitute Jhon Arias from scoring an equaliser.
And after recently missing five out of six games through injury and then suspension before being forced off at half-time at Tottenham with a blow to the knee, the Northern Ireland international has declared himself ready for Thursday's home clash against Leeds United, where the Reds drew 3-3 less than four weeks ago.
"I'm feeling good, I'm feeling fit and I'm feeling ready," he said to liverpoolfc.com. "I'm really looking forward to the game.
"Obviously it was a big tackle against Wolves because they were on top of us for probably the last 25 minutes. It was a really important win and I'm just happy I could help.
"It feels like we're in a really good moment at the minute. We've just got to keep trying to build this momentum and keep it going.
"The performances can definitely still get better, that's something we've got to strive to do. Leeds are a really good team – we found that out a few weeks ago when we went to Elland Road."