Opinion: Liverpool player would be perfect Norwich City signing this summer should Max Aarons move on | OneFootball

Unlike their previous seasons in the Championship, Norwich City are not fighting for automatic promotion in 2022-23, but instead they are vying to be in the play-offs come the month of May.

It has not gone to plan for the Canaries at all this season and it led to the sacking of manager Dean Smith back in December, and he was replaced by a man in David Wagner who knows what it takes to win promotion to the Premier League - although Smith has that on his CV as well.

Even if Norwich do strike a good run of form and make it into the top six, there's no guarantee that they will win the play-offs, and recent form would suggest they'd be up against it.

Should that be the case, then they will probably be waving goodbye to right-back Max Aarons, whose contract at Carrow Road expires in the summer of 2024.

The England under-21 international has been linked to some top clubs in recent years, with Manchester United, Barcelona and Bayern Munich just some of the footballing luminaries interested, so if they cannot return to the top flight at the first time of asking again, then Norwich should be prepared to wave goodbye to Aarons for an eight-figure fee.

And the man to replace him would ideally be Liverpool's Conor Bradley.

Is Conor Bradley good enough to replace Max Aarons at Norwich?

Bradley has never played at Championship level before, but for a 19-year-old he already has a vast amount of footballing experience.

Before he'd even made his professional Liverpool debut in September 2021, Bradley had been capped for Northern Ireland on the strength of his performances for the Reds' at under-21 level, and he has gone to play 12 times already for his country.

He featured five times under Jurgen Klopp in the EFL Cup, FA Cup and even in the UEFA Champions League last season, but the decision was made last summer that he needed a full season of experience in men's football, and Bolton Wanderers were happy to oblige.

In 43 appearances in all competitions for the Trotters, Bradley has notched six goals and six assists from wing-back, which is a fantastic record for someone who has primarily played in a back four for most of his young career so far.

And whilst it is a step up from League One to the Championship, being surrounded by creative players at Norwich should bring out even further improvement in the teenager, who turns 20 before the start of the 2023-24 season.

Would Liverpool let Conor Bradley go this summer?

Bradley signed a new 'long-term' contract in July 2021 with Liverpool, so perhaps they see a bright future for him at Anfield.

However, with Trent Alexander-Arnold currently occupying that position and Calvin Ramsay signed last summer from Aberdeen, perhaps it will be a few more years until he really gets his chance to impress.

Of course, Liverpool could use him as a back-up to Alexander-Arnold next season and play him in cup games and loan Ramsay out instead, but it would make far more sense to loan Bradley to a Championship club so he continues on the upward trajectory that he's currently on.

Therefore, you'd have to imagine that Klopp and his transfer team will be happy to see Bradley head out on loan for another year and under an attack-minded manager like Wagner, he could really thrive with the step up in quality.