The optimism Conor Bradley will have felt on the back of Trent Alexander-Arnold’s decision to leave Liverpool in the summer, which will have dulled significantly as a result of Jeremie Frimpong’s swift signing as his replacement, must now feel like it was a case of delusion.
While his place on the bench for the clashes against Newcastle and Liverpool could be dismissed as a need for him to regain match fitness following a hamstring injury, after two starts for Northern Ireland in the international break, Dominik Szoboslzai retaining his spot at right-back for the trip to Burnley offers the 22-year-old a particularly grim view of his future.
Before Liverpool had made their move for Frimpong, club legend Jamie Carragher was urging his former club not to sign a new right-back.
“When Liverpool have had Conor Bradley in the team this season, he’s looked the real deal, and I don’t think the right-back market this summer is alive with lots of amazing right-back,” Carragher said.
“So I think the way for Liverpool to go if Trent moves on is for Conor Bradley to be given his head, but also for Liverpool to buy a utility player who can play across the back-four, like what Joe Gomez has been in the past few years..”
From the high of crunching into Kylian Mbappe in a win over Real Madrid at Anfield last season, leading to suggestions from some that Bradley should be starting ahead of Alexander-Arnold rather than just take the reins from him this season, the Reds academy graduate is faced with both Frimpong and Szoboszlai as barriers to his place in the team.
Frimpong will also be watching his unlikely competition at right-back from the bench, and while that may be more to do with his recent injury rather than Slot’s preference, the summer signing must now be wondering whether he would be included in Liverpool’s best team. Because Szoboslzai will be.
He’s played every minute in the Premier League so far this season, in midfield for the opener against Bournemouth and then at right back for Newcastle and Arsenal. And ridiculous game-winning free-kicks aside, Szoboszlai proved his worth in that alien position through standout displays characterised by energy and his ability to step into midfield, as well as hugely impressive defensive stability.
“He has always been a player that understands what a Liverpool player should look like,” Slot told reporters after the Arsenal game. “If you wear this shirt you should give everything, no matter in what position you play.”
Slot isn’t about to drop the guy who in his eyes embodies Liverpool. The question is whether the Reds boss will continue to field him at right-back or push him back into midfield, in place of one of Ryan Gravenberch, Alexis Mac Allister or – most likely on the evidence of the season so far – Florian Wirtz.
The international break offered further pain rather than solace for the £100m summer signing, with the German press now very willing to poke holes in the performances of a player they clearly wanted to remain in the Bundesliga rather than make his £100m move to Anfield.
And Burnley may be seen as something of a last chance, mad though that sounds after four games, for Wirtz to prove that he’s worthy of a place in Slot’s best XI, over with Frimpong or Bradley, because Szoboszlai’s going nowhere.