Conor Bradley has confirmed he has now undergone surgery for the serious injury that he picked up against Arsenal last week, with the Reds ace set to miss the remainder of the season.
After being stretchered off in stoppage time at the Emirates Stadium last Thursday, no exact timeline has been placed on Bradley's return. However, he is not expected to be back in time to feature again until the summer.
"A big blow but surgery is done so the comeback starts now," Bradley wrote on Instagram. "It won't be for a little while but I already can't wait to get back playing for Liverpool and Northern Ireland. Thanks for all the support."
Arsenal forward Gabriel Martinelli sparked a melee at the time when he gave Bradley a shove while he was on the floor in pain, believing that the Liverpool man was attempting to run the clock down.
"Conor and I have messaged and I've already apologized to him," Martinelli later posted on Instagram. "I really didn't understand he was seriously injured in the heat of the moment.
"I want to say I'm deeply sorry for reacting. Sending Conor all my best again for a quick recovery."
Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai of Liverpool confront Gabriel Martinelli after the Arsenal man pushed Conor Bradley.
Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai of Liverpool confront Gabriel Martinelli after the Arsenal man pushed Conor Bradley. (Image: Marc Atkins/Getty Images)
Liverpool head coach Arne Slot played down Martinelli's misdemeanor in his post-match press conference, saying that it was more an issue in soccer widely that time-wasting has become so normalized.
"I don't know Gabriel Martinelli but he comes across as a nice guy," Slot said. "The problem for him, and it's a problem in general in football, is that there is so much time-wasting in the final parts of games that sometimes you can be annoyed when you want to score a goal and you feel a player is pretending to be injured.
"I'm 100 per cent sure if he knew what the injury might be, he wouldn't do that."
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"I think Arne Slot spoke brilliantly after the game, speaking of your opponent in the manner that he explained the situation and the fact that Gabi had no intention whatsoever to damage any player," Mikel Arteta said a few days later.
"And yeah, that's personality. Come in and talk on the pitch, which is the best part of it."
In the absence of Bradley, Jeremie Frimpong will need to step up. Liverpool also has Dominik Szoboszlai who can play at right-back.
Joe Gomez is another option but he might be needed at center-back with Giovanni Leoni also out for the remainder of the season. Virgil van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate are the only senior options Slot has in the middle at the moment.