Liverpool star compared to Zinedine Zidane as he embarrasses Luis Diaz in training

Liverpool recently uploaded a video giving football fans a sneak peek inside a squad training session as their pre-season tour of Hong Kong and Japan rolls on, and one player impressed in particular

Liverpool’s Conor Bradley has been compared to Zinedine Zidane after embarrassing team-mate Luis Diaz in training. The Reds are currently enjoying a pre-season tour of Hong Kong and Japan as they prepare to defend their Premier League title in 2025/26.

However, if Saturday’s 4-2 loss to AC Milan at the Kai Tak Stadium is anything to go by, the squad are still lacking valuable minutes in their legs after a well-earned summer break. Goals from Dominik Szoboszlai and Cody Gakpo were overshadowed by strikes from Rafael Leao, Ruben Loftus-Cheek and a Noah Okafor brace, albeit a full-strength squad wasn’t deployed by Arne Slot on the day.

And while there’s work to be done ahead of their Community Shield clash with Crystal Palace come August 10, certain stars have certainly impressed fans on the training ground. Liverpool uploaded footage from an in-camp session earlier this week, which showed players being put through their paces in Hong Kong.

Club legend Mohamed Salah and club-record signing Florian Wirtz found themselves showered with praise in the comments section of the YouTube upload, but Bradley was no stranger to receiving compliments either for his efforts against team-mates. One clip that stood out to fans among the rest involved the 22-year-old right back showing off his attacking prowess.

After plucking the ball out of the air with his back to Harvey Elliott, the Northern Irishman spun and beat the versatile winger with a turn of pace. Diaz then approached in a bid to dispossess Bradley, only to get turned with a roulette and left rather red-faced.

And fans of the Reds were quick to rush to the comments to show their admiration for the youngster, who played a large part in Liverpool’s title-winning campaign last season. One wrote: “Conor Zidane,” with a fire emoji, drawing parallels between the talent and the Real Madrid legend who was synonymous with skills on the pitch during his own playing days.

Another added: “Conor Bradley is becoming alarmingly good very quickly. I think his future lies in attack. He’s moving like Florian on the ball in these past few training clips. Beautiful to watch.”

Meanwhile, a third continued: “Bradley is going to have an amazing season,” while a fourth opined: “You can tell Conor has gone up a level… who knows what his ceiling is.”

While Slot wasted no time in securing the services of Jeremie Frimpong from Bayer Leverkusen in a £29.5million deal after the departure of first-choice right-back Trent Alexander-Arnold for Real Madrid, there’s no doubt that Bradley will play his own part this season.

The talent made 29 appearances across all competitions in 2024/25, and thrived as a replacement for Alexander-Arnold while the star was out injured. It comes amid speculation surrounding the future of Diaz with his current club.

The Colombian has excelled at Anfield since his arrival in 2022, scoring 41 goals and providing 23 assists from 143 outings, but now appears to be unsettled in north west England. Reports suggest that Diaz has made it clear that he wishes to leave Liverpool this summer, and it is claimed that Bayern Munich is his destination of choice, despite the Bavarians already seeing an initial bid of around £58.8m knocked back.

While Liverpool initially insisted that the 28-year-old was not for sale this summer, they may change their tune if the money is right given another one of their targets has just expressed a desire to leave his current club. Liverpool have spent large parts of the transfer window monitoring Alexander Isak’s situation with Newcastle United, with the Magpies reluctant to let their talisman part ways with St. James’ Park.

But now that the Swedish international has expressed his own desire to leave the north east, Liverpool may reignite hopes of welcoming him to Anfield if they can find the funds after already spending a staggering amount of the likes of Frimpong, Wirtz, Milos Kerkez and most recently Hugo Ekitike – dropping £79 on the Eintracht Frankfurt star.

Of course, allowing Diaz to leave as well as finding a new permanent home for Darwin Nunez would go a long way in doing so, but Newcastle are expected to demand a minimum of £150m for Isak if Liverpool are serious in their endeavours.

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