Liverpool assistant manager Pep Lijnders has spoken about the importance of Conor Bradley's loan last season.
The talented youngster spent the previous campaign at Bolton Wanderers to gain first team experience.
As the Reds prepare for a Carabao Cup semi final second leg against Fulham, Lijnders heaped praise on Bradley.
He stated: “The right moments and the right loan makes a big difference. It's what England is famous for, finding the right timings to play in the lower league, but it's really important that he goes to the right manager who does an unbelievable job [and] the right style of play. Two years ago, Owen Beck and Conor Bradley [were] in the second team [on] the right side and the left side, they dominated the complete channel offensively and defensively. So, we knew. It's not a surprise in how he is training now. It's not a surprise what he is doing. We always believed it. It's part of our project to bring these young players from already a long time. We had so many important games and so many decisive games where these players were involved. It's nice to see Conor now as well in this.
“The loan, yeah of course, if you can make minutes, [play] senior [football], the right style and then come back immediately to have the pre-season; we always believed. He was not a player who went on loan to create a market, he went on loan to come back and to play. He was really unlucky with the injury because if you guys saw pre-season, that was impressive. I said the other day to Jürgen [Klopp], the young players, our players, the work the Academy is doing, the work Vitor Matos is doing with the young players, the belief we have as management to bring them, how they do it is just impressive.
“Conor leaves his position to press, so he's already five meters in front of two players who stay up and go because he knows. Then, with the ball, it's just so easy to move to the half-space to the inside. You don't have to tell [him], it's just to try and these things, because they are trained for so many years and the boys have so much courage, they know we trust [them]. I'm really happy everybody in the outside world [sees it], but we see it already for six or seven years that all these young players make such an impact. That's a sign for a healthy club."
