Ulster Rugby and Ireland legend praises mentality of 'old head on young shoulders' Liverpool star Conor Bradley

Best is one of the greats of Irish rugby, making 124 appearances across a 14-year international career, during which time he won four Six Nations titles, including two Grand Slams in 2009 and 2018.

The British & Irish Lion also represented home province Ulster on 218 occasions before retiring in 2019 and was part of their last title-winning squad during the 2005/06 campaign.

While he was one of his country’s most promising rugby players of recent times, Reds star Bradley is leading from the front on the football field, emerging as an influential presence for Michael O’Neill’s side.

The 21-year-old from County Tyrone has already racked up 23 senior international caps since making his debut against Malta in 2021 and was named captain for an unforgettable recent 5-0 UEFA Nations League triumph over Bulgaria at Windsor Park.

One of only a handful of Northern Ireland stars playing in the Premier League – Justin Devenny has recently broken into the Crystal Palace side while Ruairi McConville has been an unused Brighton substitute – Bradley plays a key role for his country and has handled the pressure of expectation expertly so far.

He has also impressed at club level under both Jurgen Klopp and new Liverpool boss Arne Slot, making his full top-flight debut earlier this year and scored a maiden Premier League goal against Chelsea.

“An old head on young shoulders, whenever you watch him live, especially that game when he was captain for the first time, you see clearly the standards that he holds himself to, but actually that he expects everyone around him to live up to their standards,” said Best on Northern Ireland’s YouTube channel. “It’s not getting to the standards that Mo Salah sets for example at Liverpool, but it’s actually understanding the level of people you’re playing with, and that they’re holding themselves to the best account that they can.

“You just saw him constantly encouraging people. If somebody didn’t make a run he felt the should have, he was saying that to them...you try to eek another percent or two out, which is clearly the way it will be at the top of the Premier League.

“When you play in the Liverpool team, if you’re not somebody like that, you’re just not going to get picked, it’s as simple as that.

“So you’ve got to have that hard work that clearly was instilled in him when he was young to get to where he is. He still just looks to me like he has this appetite to be better. He wants Northern Ireland to be better.

“He’s not coming for a break away from the pressure of the Premier League, he’s coming here to qualify for things, to win games with Northern Ireland.

“I think that you really see the sign of a player that is so hungry to be successful at everything he does whenever they come here and they’re just always pushing people on.”

Bradley has been out of action since suffering an injury in Liverpool’s Champions League win over Real Madrid and when asked for an update this week, Slot said: “These are the two (Bradley and Ibrahima Konate) that are still ‘in the red’, so they don’t train with us at the moment.

"They are on their way back but they don’t train with the team yet. So, let’s wait and see but we have very good rehab personnel over here and they’ve done some good work already with Alisson [Becker] and a few others.

“The main thing is that if they come back, they are ready to come back and we must not focus on one, two or three days. It’s more important for the long term that they stay fit afterwards.

“Until now they have done really well and hopefully with Conor and Ibou the same thing happens.”