Conor Bradley believes it is 'massive' Liverpool have been keeping an eye on his progress while on loan at Bolton Wanderers with the youngster hopeful for the future at the Premier League club.
Bradley has shone in his early days at Wanderers after joining for the campaign. He has found the back of the net three times so far and cemented his place as first choice right wing-back.
The teenager is now on Northern Ireland duty for the international break. He has spoken about his season so far ahead of UEFA Nations League games versus Kosovo and Greece.
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Bradley believes his loan spell at Wanderers has helped him no end, playing regular men's football twice a week and developing his game thanks to the physicality of League One. The Anfield club have kept tabs on his progress during his time at Bolton and bodes well for his future at Jurgen Klopp's side.
He said: "It has been massive that they have kept in contact and they still want to know how I am doing and how I am settling in. Liverpool have been great that way and I can't thank them enough.
"It was the right time to make the loan move. I needed to get out and play as many games as I could. It is a big learning curve for me but it is a move I had to make and I can't wait for the rest of the season.
“I feel like with the family I have behind me it’s easy to keep my feet on the ground, they make sure of that. It’s not too hard to be honest.
“There’s always going to be expectation on you and even when I went to Bolton I knew there was going to be expectation then. There’s always going to be that bit of pressure but hopefully I’m able to keep producing good performances.
“Going to Bolton and having something riding on every game has been a massive help for me.
“Whenever you’re playing Under-23s, there’s nothing really on the line kind of, but when you’re coming into first team football, everything is on the line.
“That’s been a massive help for me and hopefully that is something I can bring into the Northern Ireland set-up."
"Just having that game rhythm from playing twice a week has helped me massively. If you were to compare me now to 6-12 months ago, I feel I am a miles better player.
"It has been a massive challenge. Obviously I am not used to that playing Under 23 football with Liverpool.
"So stepping up and playing against proper me has been difficult, but it is something I am getting used to and I am improving on every week.
"Playing senior football for Northern Ireland, and in front of fans, has been a big benefit. It has helped me prepare for situations and first-team football. It was a massive help for me going out on loan this season.
"I just want to bring that momentum and confidence with me into the Northern Ireland squad, and hopefully I get the chance to play a couple of games."
Bradley has eight caps under his belt and will be hoping to add two more over the course of the next week. Northern Ireland sit third in their group and above Cyprus on goal difference alone.
He is grateful to Ian Baraclough for handing him his senior bow last year. Bradley is confident he and his team-mates can pick up the results over the next two games and get them where they want to be.
He said: "We were disappointed in June. We felt we could have done better.
"But we are still positive and we have a couple of familiar faces back so we are confident we can get two positive results from these games.
“You could see things are developing and performances are getting better. Hopefully the results will come with that, too.
"It was a big step up, more so because I was playing U23 football every week. Now I am playing first-team football it might make the step up a bit easier.
"I will always be grateful to Ian (Baraclough) who has believed in me for the past year or so. I will always be grateful for the trust he has put in me.
"We are all positive going into the game. So we are positive we can put in a good performance and get the result we want.
"We keep believing in what we're doing. And we will just keep working hard. You always go through a tough spell as a footballer."
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