On a Friday evening last May, Conor Bradley was crouched in the goalmouth at Barnsley’s Oakwell ground, tears streaming down his face.
“There’s only one Conor Bradley,” the away fans behind the goal sang, over and over again. But this was the end.
In just one season, the Liverpool defender had made such an impact at Bolton Wanderers that no-one was really ready for the final farewell, least of all the player himself. When a League One play-off semi final ended in defeat, everyone knew the day had come.
“We were hoping that if we got promoted, he’d come back to us in the Championship,” Bradley’s former Bolton team-mate Gethin Jones said recently. “That’s why he got so upset – he was probably thinking it himself.”
Few loan players ever generate such a bond during just a few short months, but Bradley wasn’t just any loan player. From the start, it was blindingly obvious to everyone at Bolton that he was a special talent.
Still 18 when he signed in the summer of 2022, it was Bradley’s first loan away from Anfield, and the squad admitted knowing little about him.
Trotters boss Ian Evatt had tried to sign him months earlier though, and had finally secured a player he viewed as perfect for the right wing-back spot in his 3-5-2 formation.
Within a fortnight, Bradley had arrowed an angled right-foot shot across a goalkeeper into the far corner, during a pre-season game against Stockport – an eerily similar finish to the one he produced for Liverpool against Chelsea on Wednesday. Even in a friendly, it suggested Bolton had a player on their hands.
In the opening game of the season, Wanderers travelled to Ipswich, a club now pushing for promotion to the Premier League – Bradley used his pace and dribbling ability to cause the Tractor Boys all sorts of problems, winning a penalty before half time.
In his first home game, he was outstanding, setting up a goal in a 3-0 win over Wycombe. Three days after that, despite being rested to the bench in the Carabao Cup, he came on to rocket home a goal against Salford.
A week later, he scored the only goal of the game against Morecambe. Bradley knows how to make an instant impact.
Fearless, as good as a winger going forward and surprisingly solid in defence, despite his slender build, his energy to keep going at full tilt all game was remarkable.
Bradley gave everything for the cause, always – his dedication to training impressed team-mates, who he also consulted for advice, keen to understand every facet of how Bolton played, so that he could fit in as quickly as possible.
For all of those reasons, he won over the fans immediately – the first time he’d played in front of a big crowd on a regular basis, he was having the time of his life, saying as much in interviews.
“Which Bolton player should I watch out for?” former Arsenal vice chairman David Dein asked me in late August 2022, when we were exchanging a bit of small talk before a FourFourTwo magazine interview, and he’d enquired which club I supported.
“Conor Bradley, on loan from Liverpool,” I said – the Northern Irishman had only played seven games for the club by that point, but it was already clear what a huge future he had.
England’s Under 21 Euros hero James Trafford was also on loan at Bolton last season – the pair are probably worth about £40m combined now and became big friends. Both still massively popular at the club, they’ve been spotted back at the Toughsheet Community Stadium watching the Trotters together this term, despite their loans coming to an end.
Their greatest day was the EFL Trophy final at Wembley in April, a chance to see how Bradley would cope on the biggest of stages, in front of a crowd of 79,000.
He was facing League One leaders Plymouth, going head to head with their highly-rated wing-back Bali Mumba, but he destroyed them going forward – Bolton won 4-0, with Mumba switched from the left to the right midway through the first half to prevent further punishment.
Mumba was later selected ahead of Bradley on the right of defence in the League One team of the year – the Plymouth man had undoubtedly had a good season, and Argyle had gone up while Bolton hadn’t. In their head to heads during the campaign though, Bradley had displayed the greater potential.
In the end, he featured 53 times for Bolton, scoring seven goals and bagging six assists. By the second half of the season, his threat was so great that teams often doubled up on him to deny him space – at the moment, Premier League defences know so little about him that they’re still letting him roam free.
Sometimes, the temptation to keep giving him the ball again and again proved too much, such was his ability, and Bolton’s attack lacked unpredictability elsewhere.
The bond between player and club was strengthened further by that trophy success at Wembley, and Bradley left the door open for a potential loan return to the club this season if the Trotters secured promotion – for the sake of his development, Liverpool were not going to want him playing in League One again. When Bolton lost to Barnsley in the play-offs, those hopes were over.
A stress fracture to the back later ruled him out for a period, ending any speculation as to whether he might go out on loan elsewhere for the first half of this season. After cup appearances for Liverpool showed him ready to play more regularly, he stepped up seamlessly when Trent Alexander-Arnold got injured.
“A few weeks ago when I was on holiday, a few Bolton fans asked if they could have Bradley back, but it's too late!” Jurgen Klopp laughed after the Chelsea game on Wednesday night.
It’s little surprise to anyone in Bolton just how well Bradley has done in the Liverpool first team. When he charged clear down the right before half time on Wednesday, those who’ve seen him play regularly had a pretty good idea that he’d score.
“Here’s a shout, Conor Bradley is going to be Northern Ireland’s highest profile player after George Best,” former boxer Carl Frampton tweeted recently. That’s certainly an ask – he’d have to achieve more than Pat Jennings for a start – but the potential is there for a stellar career.
If that happens, Bolton fans will always remember where he got his first opportunity for regular senior football, and the season when it all began. As Bradley’s tears at Oakwell proved, the bond was mutual.
Don’t fall in love with a loan player, they always say. Too late. Too late.
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