Liverpool youngster Conor Bradley has been backed to change his position as he progresses his career.
The Reds full-back has been handed chances to perform with the first-team this season, and has already earned a call-up to his national team.
Bradley earned his first cap for Northern Ireland back in May at the age of 17, and made his first-team debut for Liverpool in their Carabao Cup win over Norwich last month.
Northern Ireland boss Ian Baraclough says he has chatted with Jurgen Klopp about Bradley, and claims they both agree that the teenager could change position in the future.
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“Jurgen thinks - and I agree, who am I not to agree with him actually - that Conor could play in a midfield role as he gets older,” Baraclough is quoted telling Belfast Live .
“He has the skill-set to be a conventional full-back or a wing-back, but he can also play in midfield. A little bit higher up.
“He’s got a great understanding of football and different areas, so that’s a great string to his bow.”
During Bradley’s Liverpool debut against Norwich, the 18-year-old gave away a penalty which was later saved by Caoimhin Kelleher.
Even though he gave away a penalty, Bradley still produced an impressive performance to justify Klopp’s decision to start him.
Baraclough, who watched Bradley against the Canaries, says that he does not think the penalty will phase the youngster and has backed him to succeed going forward.
“I’ve absolutely no worries about him,” Baraclough said. “Everybody makes mistakes and it’s about how you deal with it, how you move on from that.
“You could see the disappointment on his face, the disbelief. He’ll maybe look back at it and think, could he have dealt with it slightly better?
“Could he have been in a better position to negate the threat in behind in the first place? But he moved on and quickly got rid of that.
“I thought he was great during the game and it was brilliant to watch him. To see him growing visibly during the game was superb.
“I spoke to Jurgen in the build-up to our September camp and clearly he has seen things in Conor to give him his debut (for Liverpool).
“We all saw how confident he was in the game and how he dealt with situations which with other people, they might have played on their minds.
“It’s all part of his education and we’re playing our little part.”
