Liverpool have some injury problems and one star may be out until 2027. A massive blow.
Liverpool went into this season with a relatively small squad. Not necessarily in numbers but the group from which Arne Slot consistently starts players is smaller than most clubs of this level.
And that group has only shrunk further through injuries. It started with Giovanni Leoni, whose knee injury on debut ruled him out for the entire campaign.
Alexander Isak, the most expensive player in British football history, is also out long-term. The hope there is that he recovers over the next month or so and can play a part in the run-in.
Injuries to Jeremie Frimpong, Joe Gomez, and Alisson Becker have all interrupted the season, too. And then there’s the situation with Conor Bradley.
Conor Bradley's injury
Sport scientist Simon Brundish has given a brilliant take on Conor Bradley after the right-back suffered a horrendous injury against Arsenal last month. Bradley went down right at the end of the fixture with a knee issue - one that requires surgery and a significant lay-off.
Brundish feels a 12-month recovery for his kind of injury is completely realistic, which would keep Bradley out until 2027. The suggestion here is that the Northern Irishman has struggled with injuries and fitness to the point where he's more susceptible to them than most players.
His ability to play intense football three times a week is not as high as other members of the squad. If only because previous injuries have ruined his chances of getting his body used to it.
Across fourteen days, he accumulated approximately three hundred and fourteen competitive minutes.
For an established Premier League defender, that figure is not remarkable. For a player with Bradley’s exposure history, it matters a great deal.
Across his entire career, he has only once completed more than two hundred and fifty minutes in a two week period without subsequently sustaining an injury, and that was two years ago.
A long-term lay-off is something that would be an enormous blow to Liverpool.
For one, they've just rebuilt their right-back position after Trent Alexander-Arnold's exit. Frimpong arrived to battle with Bradley for the role - both are currently injured, the latter long-term.