Liverpool delivered another HARSH Trent Alexander-Arnold truth

Liverpool thought they had a readymade solution for Trent Alexander-Arnold’s transfer to Real Madrid.

Sporting director Richard Hughes completed a £29.5m deal to sign Jeremie Frimpong from Bayer Leverkusen and gave a new long-term contract to Conor Bradley.

Frimpong, 24, may not be a right-back by trade but can play several positions down that flank. And Bradley showed enough as Trent’s deputy for Liverpool to believe he could replace the England man full time.

Only it’s not worked out like that.

Neither Frimpong nor Bradley can replace TAA

Neither is a like-for-like replacement for the 27-year-old - whose absence continues to reverberate around Anfield.

Frimpong has yet to get going - suffering two hamstring injuries in the early part of the season. And Bradley too has been unconvincing - to the extent that Arne Slot has often preferred to use Dominik Szoboszlai at right-back instead.

It looks like the Hungary captain could be pressed into action there again on Saturday against Nottingham Forest - with both full-backs expected to miss another three weeks through injury.

Frimpong’s injury we knew about already.

Bradley cannot stay fit

But Bradley’s loss when it was confirmed by Slot on Friday came like a hammer blow. He played twice for Northern Ireland over the international window - with a substitution against Luxembourg on Monday initially looking like a precaution.

But now the defender is going to be on the sidelines yet again - meaning Liverpool are scrambling for cover in a problem position.

This isn’t the first time Bradley has been injured this season either; he missed the Community Shield as well as the first match of the Premier League season with a hamstring strain.

And Liverpool fans over the last couple of seasons have had to get used to seeing Bradley listed as unavailable.

Trent was irreplaceable after all

And simply put he is never going to be able to build the consistency needed to command a regular starting berth unless he stays fit.

These injuries are alarming for the Reds as you really should be able to rely on your right-back to play regularly. And aside from his fitness issues, Bradley has often not met the grade in Liverpool red this season.

He has already amassed SIX yellow cards and has had to be replaced at half-time on two separate occasions. Liverpool simply cannot afford him to be blotting his copybook like this when he is fit and available.

It’s a harsh learning curve for Bradley and Liverpool are learning that Trent was irreplaceable after all.

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