Preston North End’s hopes of signing Conor Bradley appear to be over with Liverpool preferring to leave him at Bolton Wanderers.
PNE boss Ryan Lowe set tongues wagging when he attended Bolton’s game against Burton Albion last month.
The Bolton News then reported that the reason for Lowe’s trip was to watch Wanderers right wing back Conor Bradley in action.
Everybody knows at this point that Lowe wants another right wing back in his squad.
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Lowe wanted one over the summer as competition for Brad Potts but just couldn’t find the right player and some deals even collapsed.
Bradley has been impressing as an attack-minded right wing back this season and looks like a decent fit for Lowe’s setup.
The problem is that Bolton have Bradley for the season and PNE would have been left hoping that Liverpool would scrap that and send him to Deepdale.
Sepp van den Berg’s development at least offered North End some hope that Liverpool would give a January favour.
However, The Bolton News now claim that Liverpool are happy for Bradley to stay with the League One side.
It’s suggested that PNE – and other Championship clubs – were keen on Bradley but he is set to stay with Bolton until May.
That’s a frustration for North End and another right wing back that will now need to be crossed off Lowe’s wanted list.
The Northern Irish talent would have been an exciting addition whilst providing Lowe with a natural right wing back.
Potts has been faring well but he’s not a natural there and adding Bradley would have given Lowe another option.
It’s back to the drawing board then for North End, who will have some January targets in mind as Lowe looks to push into the top six places in 2023.