The Aggregate: Rumoured Liverpool Target Can Replace Trent Alexander-Arnold's Strength

While Conor Bradley progresses the ball through carrying at an elite level, Liverpool will need someone to pass progressively. They may have found their man.

It makes sense to name a series on potential player replacements ‘The Aggregate’ after the famous scene in Moneyball, especially with how Liverpool operate in the transfer market. If the scene in question has passed you by, allow Brad Pitt to explain it for you.

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It’s over. You don’t need to tell me. Trent Alexander-Arnold has no distance left to run at Liverpool. He will leave the club this summer having won it all, with the vast majority of supporters grateful for what he has given to the Reds.

If Liverpool do not possess a ready-made replacement, they do at least have a right-back of tremendous potential in Conor Bradley. He will fulfill the role in a different way to Alexander-Arnold, but so would anybody the club happened to sign. Arne Slot will have to settle for a talented horse after being blessed with a unicorn for his first season in England.

As discussed previously in this series (see below), Bradley is among the elite of big league defenders for ball progression. The issue for the Liverpool of the future is that he does this far more through carrying whereas Alexander-Arnold is a passer supreme.

The Aggregate: Replacing Trent Alexander-Arnold with Conor Bradley

Mohamed Salah has been able to thrive this season thanks to two key factors. He doesn’t have to defend much, so can stay high up field. This in turn means he can be swiftly unleashed onto opposition defences via sharp passes from the back.

If Bradley can play the lengthy deliveries Salah craves, he has largely kept this information to himself. The Northern Ireland captain has completed a shade under a quarter as many long passes per 90 minutes as Alexander-Arnold in his Premier League career.

Liverpool’s right flank is set for an evolution. Even with Bradley’s ball carrying prowess, a chunk of Trent’s progressive passing will be lost. If a recent transfer rumour proves to be correct, the Reds will be deploying our old friend The Aggregate to fix that shortfall.