Jurgen Klopp expects Liverpool youngster Stefan Bajcetic to be a key player next season, regardless of any signings made.
Liverpool are set to revamp their midfield this summer, with big names like Jude Bellingham anticipated to arrive at Anfield. But as per The Telegraph, Klopp sees Bajcetic as being ‘at the heart’ of his plans.
It’s claimed that ‘high calibre investments’ will still be necessary this summer. The 18-year-old’s emergence alone doesn’t negate the need for that.
The two names suggested to fill those roles by The Telegraph are Bellingham and Matheus Nunes. Should either, or both join though, it sounds like they’ll have to get past young Stefan first!
Bajcetic rides to Liverpool’s rescue
If there was one position Liverpool needed an academy player to step up from this season, it was in the midfield.
Without the necessary funds to overhaul the area entirely, they need to come up with smart solutions. One player alone won’t fix the problem, and when that player is likely to cost over £100m, you have to get creative.
Thankfully, Bajcetic has provided an answer for Liverpool. And this isn’t the story of an academy player showing he might have potential to stay in the squad.
This might be an unfair comparison, but Bajcetic is showing far, far more than Curtis Jones was at his age, for example.
To be fair to Jones, he was trying to get into a midfield that was on it’s way to winning the Champions League and Premier League. Bajcetic has emerged with Liverpool struggling through one of their worst seasons in recent memory.
Nevertheless, the young Spaniard is showing that he can be a starter for Liverpool already. It isn’t as though he’s been thrown in with those around him injured either. Bajcetic deservedly displaced Fabinho from the team and played over the likes of Jones, Naby Keita and James Milner last night. As Mohamed Salah said, the youngster has been his team’s best player recently. He could be the real deal.
As a result, he absolutely should now be considered part of Liverpool’s midfield rebuild. It’s already easy to imagine a midfield of Bajcetic, Bellingham and Nunes dominating games for the Reds.
Right now , only one of those is a Liverpool player. Whether the other two will join him in that remains to be seen. One things is absolutely clear though, whoever the names are in Klopp’s midfield next season, Bajcetic will be one of them.