Liverpool's outgoing sporting director Michael Edwards spent time visiting Bolton Wanderers prior to sending Conor Bradley there on loan.
The Reds and Bolton agreed a year-long deal for the 18-year-old defender who has a bright future ahead of him on Merseyside. Having made his club debut last season in the Carabao Cup and featuring in the final group game of the UEFA Champions League last season away to AC Milan, the decision was made to continue his development in League One.
Keen to ensure that the club taking one of Liverpool's brightest academy prospects was the right one, Edwards scouted Bolton to see how the team operates before sanctioning the move for Bradley to join for the 2022/23 season. And manager Ian Evatt added that there were conversations between both teams last season.
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“We’ve become trustworthy, we’ve become a club that clearly knows and develops players and works on the four corners. We speak about the technical, tactical, physical and mental," Evatt said via the Manchester Evening News.
“It’s a huge thing for us that they’ve selected us and that’s down to our hard work behind the scenes - myself, the rest of the staff, Chris (Markham). We’ve had lots of conversations with Liverpool last season.
“Michael Edwards has even been to visit us and watch how we train and do things, which is a huge bonus for how we’re working. I’m delighted with it.”
Edwards will leave Liverpool this summer after 10 years at the club, with Julian Ward already in place to succeed him. Ward has started the summer transfer window strongly with the additions of Fabio Carvalho from Fulham, Aberdeen's Calvin Ramsey and transfer-record signing Darwin Nunez from Benfica.
