Liverpool have cause to be beyond furious with Arsenal star Gabriel Martinelli after the winger reportedly worsened the knee injury Conor Bradley suffered in January during a 0-0 draw.
Late in the game, Bradley suffered a serious knee injury when his boot caught in the turf and twisted, leading the right back to writhe in pain on the sidelines.
In a moment that Roy Keane labelled ‘disgraceful,’ Martinelli dropped the ball on Bradley before attempting to push him off the field so that play could restart.
Now, it would appear that moment was more than just a gross display of poor sportsmanship. A new claim suggests that Martinelli made the injury worse, justifying the fury Liverpool fans showcased online at the time.
In an attempt to restart play quickly in the closing moments, Gabriel Martinelli tried to move Conor Bradley off the pitch while he was down injured. pic.twitter.com/VyazI4vqqY
— ESPN UK (@ESPNUK) January 8, 2026
Martinelli exacerbated damage to Bradley’s knee by pushing him
In May – five months after the game – respected journalist Chris Williams reported that the injury was worse than first reported. He said: “Information tonight from within IFA, via LFC, that Conor Bradley’s injury is far worse than reported.
“With wider ramifications if proven. Whoever comes in as the new Liverpool head coach, a RB is now a massive priority.”
Now, once again reporting via X, Williams says he was asked to withold the information that Martinelli was directly responsible for an aggravation of the knee injury.
Williams said: “Further detail I held back on in May (after agreement with the IFA) was their assessment of how the injury was complicated.
*“Medical staff believe that the manhandling of him caused the patella to fragment, requiring complex rebuilding, making the injury much worse.*”
Further detail I held back on in May (after agreement with the IFA) was their assessment of how the injury was complicated. Medical staff believe that the manhandling of him caused the patella to fragment, requiring complex rebuilding, making the injury much worse.
— Chris Williams (@Chris78Williams) July 21, 2026
Bradley is still months away from a full return to fitness
Williams made this claim after Andoni Iraola revealed that Bradley is still a long way off being ready to return to full training or match action for Liverpool.
Iraola said: “I think it depends on Conor’s situation. At the end if you have a fully fit, healthy Conor Bradley, we are very happy, ready to go and we would not be asking ourselves these questions.
“I think it’s a situation that is tricky, because we trust Conor in the long term, we know we want him to be our right-back but right now he is still, I would say, a little bit far from returning.
“So, with the centre-back, with the right-back situation, in terms of defensive depth, we are, I think, very thin right now so I think it’s a solution that we are trying to find, yes.”