Home
Conor Bradley has shown right away that he is ready to muck in with a promotion fight at Wanderers in League One.
Ian Evatt has been impressed by the Liverpool full-back’s attitude since he started training with the Whites at the start of last week and is confident that he will handle the step up to regular first team football.
The teenager has forced his way on to the periphery of Jurgen Klopp’s Premier League side and now holds down a regular place in the Northern Ireland starting line-up.
But Evatt has been encouraged by his transition to the Bolton camp and has backed him to handle the different pressures that playing regularly outside the Liverpool ‘bubble’ will bring.
“That is sometimes the issue with these big teams and the big Cat One teams,” he said. “It is really their attitude, but I must say that Liverpool and the grounding that they give their players is excellent.
“All the due diligence we do on Conor and his character – I mean, you don’t get into Jurgen’s first team and you don’t play international football at 18-year-old unless you’ve got a really strong and good character.
“Everything I have seen from him is exactly that, so we had done a lot of homework on him and it is proving right.
“He was our first choice in January, we just couldn’t get him and we didn’t get a bad second one with Marlon (Fossey), but I think we’re seeing glimpses of what he can do for this football club.”
Former loanee Fossey is yet to sign for a new club and has a year remaining on his contract with Fulham, who have just been promoted to the Premier League.
But the wing-back says he does not want to go back to playing Under-23s football and is actively looking for a move elsewhere.
Asked if he was surprised that Fossey has not found a new club, Evatt said: “I think it’s pretty slow everywhere to be honest. It hasn’t really caught fire yet but there’s vast amounts of money being spent. Some teams are having a right go at the moment, but that’s football.
“We’re not going to be one of those biggest spenders but what we can do is hopefully give them really good coaching and get the best out of the group and then hopefully that will take us far.
“We’ve got a group that we think is really strong, hopefully with one or two more additions we’ll have some really good competitive edge and if we do that and stick to our beliefs and stick to the philosophy I think we’ve got a chance.”
Source