Northern Ireland look set to go through their entire autumn Nations League campaign without Conor Bradley.
Michael O’Neill has said he does not expect the Liverpool right-back to feature while he continues recovering from the knee injury he picked up against Arsenal in January. The more realistic date for a return in a green shirt, the manager reckons, is the March 2027 international break.
“I’m comfortable with that,” O’Neill told BBC Sport NI when asked if he was resigned to Bradley missing the campaign. “If we see him this side of Christmas it’s a real bonus, if not, we look forward to March.”
Northern Ireland face Georgia, Hungary and Ukraine in League B2 across six games in September, October and November. The opening stretch is brutal: four matches in a fortnight, starting away to Georgia on Friday 25 September, Hungary at home on Monday 28 September, Ukraine away on Friday 2 October, then Georgia again at Windsor on Monday 5 October. Ukraine at home (14 November) and Hungary away (17 November) close it out.
O’Neill has already labelled those openers “challenging.” Doing them without Bradley — one of the side’s most important players and a recent Nations League captain — makes the job harder again. The manager says Bradley is where he expected him to be, that progress is being made, and that an injury of that nature has to be managed carefully.
Windsor still has a Nations League night on the calendar either way — Northern Ireland v Hungary is in our September Belfast guide — and the wider NI picture keeps shifting after moves such as Conor McMenamin’s return to Glentoran.
For now, Northern Ireland plan without him. When he is ready, they will be glad to have him back.
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