Conor Bradley backed 'to kick on big time' as Liverpool return prospect raised

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The ECHO chats exclusively to former Liverpool defender Glen Johnson, who played 200 times for the RedsFormer Liverpool defender Glen Johnson has backed Conor Bradley to return from his long-term knee injury a better player.Northern Ireland international Bradley saw his season ended in January when he suffered a serious problem in the closing stages of a goalless draw at Arsenal.Liverpool said Bradley had not suffered an ACL setback at the time but always insisted the lay-off would be a lengthy one for the Academy graduate and it's unclear at this stage when the defender will be cleared for comeback on the pitches of the AXA Training Centre.Bradley is currently working indoors, using the gym facilities of the club's £50m training base in Kirkby, with no return date publicly slated as it stands. Northern Ireland boss Michael O'Neill steered clear of providing a timeline when asked late last month.Liverpool struggled at right-back in the absence of Bradley with the likes of Joe Gomez, Jeremie Frimpong and midfielders Curtis Jones and Dominik Szoboszlai all filling in at times and Johnson, who played 200 times for the Reds in that role, is looking forward to seeing the first-choice back from injury."It was exactly that [last season], a long-term Liverpool problem," Johnson tells the ECHO.

But sadly he got quite a serious injury, so hopefully he can bounce back."But obviously clubs like Liverpool can't wait for you, they have to get on with it and fix it now."So hopefully he gets back and is back to himself again to challenge for a place because it is definitely an issue that Liverpool need to resolve."That is what I have seen in Conor, big potential, and of course he can improve defensively and he can improve tactically, he is going to get better going forward too. I think the baseline for all of that is still very high and he is a great athlete who can get up and down the pitch."Going forward when you're an athlete, that's kind of the easy part.

It's only when you're working against stopping top teams and they are tactically trying to pull him out of position and stuff, that is the stuff you learn during the games."So I know he needs game time for that, so if he can improve on that then he can become an even bigger player for Liverpool, if you like, and I think he can kick on big time."Liverpool have yet to add to their squad since the transfer window opened at the start of the month, despite losing Andy Robertson, Ibrahima Konate and Mohamed Salah at the end of the campaign, with all three walking away as free agents.Johnson, though, does not believe new boss Andoni Iraola needs to do too much in the summer window, adding: "Obviously Liverpool's squad is still good, it's not just always about replacing players at the end of the season and it didn't go as planned."So I think with the group they have and maybe one or two additions, you get into a good rhythm in pre-season and the current squad can bounce back to their normal level."I think that was the issue last season, too many of them dropped below their level, which was a really high level."So I think if you can just get a few more in the door, I think Liverpool have still got a fantastic squad and chuck that in with a few additions and I think Liverpool will bounce back."Glen Johnson was speaking to Liverpool ECHO, thanks to Bet St George, who conducted a survey ahead of the World Cup to find out if England really believe it's coming home. 35% of Liverpool's residents believe England will win the World Cup.FOLLOW OUR LIVERPOOL FC FACEBOOK PAGE!