Liverpool’s Conor Bradley out for the season with knee injury requiring surgery

The Northern Ireland international was carried off late in Thursday’s draw at Arsenal.

INJURY UPDATE: Defender Conor Bradley is set to undergo surgery on a serious knee injury which will rule him out of the rest of Liverpool’s season.Picture: Justin Setterfield/Getty Images

Defender Conor Bradley is set to undergo surgery on a serious knee injury which will rule him out of the rest of Liverpool’s season.

While the Northern Ireland international has not sustained an ACL injury, there is damage to the bone and ligaments in his left knee, the Press Association understands.

The right-back, who was carried off late in Thursday’s goalless draw at Premier League leaders Arsenal, will have an operation in the coming days which will rule him out of the remainder of the domestic campaign.

He will also face a race to recover in time for this summer’s World Cup, should Northern Ireland qualify through the play-offs.

Liverpool FC can confirm Conor Bradley has sustained a significant knee injury.

— Liverpool FC (@LFC) January 11, 2026

Liverpool said Bradley had “sustained a significant knee injury”, adding in a statement: “No timeframe is being placed on his return to playing at this stage of the process.” Bradley had made 21 appearances this season, having missed a number of matches with a hamstring problem.

The setback leaves head coach Arne Slot with Jeremie Frimpong, who has had his own injury problems since joining from Bayer Leverkusen in the summer, and Joe Gomez, himself only just returning from a hamstring issue, as cover, but neither can be considered a genuine right-back.

Slot has had to utilise midfielders Dominik Szoboszlai and Curtis Jones in the position this season.

The first game of Bradley’s absence will be Monday’s FA Cup third-round tie at home to League One Barnsley and Slot says he will not repeat the selection mistakes of his chastening experience in the competition last season.

With his team flying high in the Premier League and Champions League and in the final of the Carabao Cup, the Dutchman named a second-string team for their fourth-round tie at Championship side Plymouth and they were beaten 1-0.

But, with a host of players unavailable for the visit of Barnsley, there will be no chopping and changing at Anfield.

“Last season I made the decision that some players needed to rest in the FA Cup because you can’t play every player every single time, but it is obvious we are not in the League Cup any more,” Slot said.

“The FA Cup has always been very important for us, but sometimes in a season when you are still competing for the League Cup, the Champions League and the league – with the amount of players we had last season and have this season – you have to make choices.

“But I can guarantee you that on Monday you will see all the players you saw at Arsenal, maybe with some changes, but they will be on the bench so that’s going to be different from last season.” If the last campaign was not enough of an eye-opener for Slot in his first season in English football, there is history with Monday’s opponents.

In 2008, in their last visit when they were still a Championship side, Brian Howard’s 90th-minute goal for a 2-1 victory stunned Liverpool.

Barnsley are currently 17th in League One, but Slot will not underestimate them.

“We all know in the FA Cup or cup competitions things can happen and you cannot compare Plymouth away and the players who played back then to Barnsley at home,” he added.

“The last time Barnsley played us they beat us, but that was 2008 in our stadium, so we take them as we took Plymouth – very serious.”