Conor Bradley future intrigue has handed Liverpool difficult transfer decision

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Conor Bradley was pictured back at the AXA Training Centre this week but there is no suggestion he is close to a first-team returnThe Andoni Iraola era at Liverpool begins in earnest on Tuesday when the new head coach welcomes the majority of his first-team squad to the AXA Training Centre.For some, though, the hard graft has already started with a number of injured, recently sidelined or loan players joining sessions with the under-21 squad earlier this week.Among the early returnees was Conor Bradley, who is continuing his recovery from the serious knee injury he suffered in innocuous fashion at Arsenal in early January.Bradley was pictured working in the gymnasium at the Kirkby facility with first-team rehabilitation physiotherapist David Breen, the first public recognition of his progress since the devastating setback at the Emirates.The right-back, who turned 23 on Thursday, required surgery to repair both bone and ligament damage with the fact Liverpool have thus far been unwilling to place any timescale on his recovery highlighting the complexity of the injury.The latest hint on Bradley's position had been provided in May by Northern Ireland national team coach Michael O'Neill."He's doing well, you know, he's making progress, but like it's not for me to put any type of timeline on that progress at this minute in time," said O'Neill. "We just want him back, fit and healthy, of course we do, as do Liverpool, but it's important that how that injury is handled."That the club were happy to allow photographs of Bradley's rehabilitation to be released must be seen as a positive step, although there is no suggestion the defender is close to a return.And that poses an issue for Iraola that his predecessor Arne Slot was, for a number of reasons, unable to properly address last season.With Jeremie Frimpong inconsistently available and, in the latter part of the campaign, suffering below-average form, Liverpool were left to mix and match at right-back to ever-diminishing returns.There had been an effort in January to bolster options with a failed loan move for Holland's Lutsharel Geertruida and an aborted attempt to sign Denzel Dumfries, who has subsequently left Inter Milan for Real Madrid.Matters, though, have been quiet on that front so far this summer, albeit partly due to the change in the dugout and the need for Iraola to first assess his resources for the coming campaign.For many, though, it would be a no-brainer to strengthen the right-back position so to ease the expectation on Bradley and release Frimpong to be a more versatile operator along the right flank.

With Liverpool needing to be canny in their transfer business, a multi-purpose player capable of also doing a job either at centre-back or central midfield would surely be the ideal.It's also worth bearing in mind that Bradley has only ever started 29 Premier League games in his career and has never played more than nine in succession. In terms of being a regular performer in the top-flight, he remains relatively unproven.Iraola will no doubt be invited to reveal more on Bradley's current situation when he faces the media for the first time as Liverpool head coach on Monday morning.But the debate over whether the Reds should bolster their right-back resources is likely to continue deep into the transfer window.FOLLOW OUR LIVERPOOL FC FACEBOOK PAGE!

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