03 February 2024 , 17:05
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The father of Liverpool star Conor Bradley sadly died on Saturday morning, leaving the Northern Irishman mourning his passing.
The news comes less than three days after Bradley put in a man-of-the-match performance in the 4-1 hammering of Chelsea. Tragically, the Reds starlet is now in mourning after his dad Joe Bradley passed away at the weekend at the age of 58 after a long illness.
Bradley started at right-back against the Blues on Wednesday, notching two assists and scoring a superb goal just before half-time. His display drew high praise from boss Jurgen Klopp, who revealed he "loved" the Northern Irishman from his very first training session.
"Yeah, I know it for a while because in the left ear is Pep Lijnders and in the right ear is Vitor Matos," the Liverpool manager said when asked if he was aware of how good Bradley is.
"I remember Pep sat in my office and said, 'I'd put both hands in fire for him!' I loved him from the first day, I didn't need a lot of convincing. The thing is, Conor showed up extremely good in pre-season, did extremely well at Bolton [on loan].
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"Comes back, looks top in pre-season, wow, and then is out for five months [or] four months, [with] like these kind of issues that only young people have, but thank God then time can sort it. At our age, it would not get better but in that age group, it gets better.
"Since he is back, it is a joy to watch him. It is all credit to the Academy because, how I said, Conor, Jarell, James, Bobby [Clark] and the others we don’t have to mention... it’s top. Kaide Gordon coming back after a long, long injury, even longer. Stefan Bajcetic still out, these kind of things.
Bradley scored against Chelsea on Wednesday night (Liverpool FC via Getty Images)"It is not cool but we were counting with Stefan before the season because we know how good he is. Then he cannot play and that’s obviously not helpful. The Academy is doing an incredible job."
Bradley was also over the moon to score his first goal in the Premier League. The 20-year-old opened up on the "dream" moment as he blasted in his side's second goal of their dominant win.
"It's a very proud moment obviously. It's something I've dreamed of for a long time. I just feel like I'm in a dream. It's unbelievable. I'm very happy!" Bradley told TNT Sports.
"I just couldn't believe it went in. I just thought, 'I'm going to hit it here' and it went in the bottom corner. I didn't know what to do, I just went into the corner and did a knee slide. It was brilliant!
"It's unfortunate the way Trent got injured but that's what happens in football and I've just got to try to take my chance. Over the last couple of games I feel like I've done pretty well, so I just want to keep up this form and keep working hard."