Conor Bradley has been told the next step he needs to take in his fledgling career is to stay fit during intense runs in Liverpool’s fixture list.
Bradley has missed only one game due to injury so far this season but was eased into the campaign with three successive appearances off the bench.
It stemmed from the hamstring issue he sustained during pre-season, which put him on the back foot having to play catch-up, and he has completed 90 minutes just twice this season.
With injuries a theme of his young career, Slot is eager for the 22-year-old to take the next step in his development by adapting to the intensity of Liverpool’s schedule by staying fit.
Asked what more he wants from Bradley, Slot did not hesitate, saying: “Stay fit!
“He played very good in that game [against Real Madrid last season], unfortunately for 80 minutes and then he went out with a hamstring injury.
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“That has been his biggest challenge until now.
“We were just talking about Florian, we could put the same on Con, be able to play every three days at this intensity without getting injured.
“That’s not been easy for him because he missed a big part of pre-season.
“And he’s been unlucky that when I have started him a few times we were 1-0 down, and I thought I had to make an offensive substitution, and so I put Dominik Szoboszlai at full-back.
“But when we were a goal up, he played 90 minutes and that was against Everton and this Saturday [vs. Aston Villa].
“I think he is progressing, he is getting fitter and fitter and is showing the potential he has, but the main thing for him will be being able to play every three days without getting injured.
“Then I’m sure, like Florian and the others that are adjusting at this moment to the programme and to the fixtures, that all of them will be fine because we have unbelievable talent.”
Bradley missed the second-most amount of games last season due to injury (19) behind only Joe Gomez (24), and as the natural right-back successor, he has a big role to fill in the side.
The 22-year-old has started back-to-back games only once this season, with his longest stretch in the XI since last season coming at the backend of the campaign when he started three in succession.
