Liverpool fans should be really excited over the emergence of 18-year-old midfielder Stefan Bajcetic.
That’s the view of pundit Ian Wright, who has been raving about the teenager to The Ringer.
“Bajcetic is in it now and what is he? Eighteen? Just watching how he was playing in that midfield and not just his passing range but his tackling. Everything. The distribution,” gushed Wright.
The pundit said that from watching the Anfield crowd’s reaction to Bajcetic, you can tell they’re wowed about him. And, according to Wright, they should be.
“He did a cross field ball and honestly the crowd were like ‘wow,'” he said. “They didn’t give him like the – if Thiago Alcantara did it, you just go ‘he does that, nice pass.’ But because he did it for some reason, he just looked up and went bam, right across to Andy Robertson and everyone was like ‘wow.’
“They should be hyped about his kid because he’s the next incumbent of that midfield that they need. He has everything wrapped up in what he does. Six, eight, 10, he’s got all that.”
Bajcetic breaking through
It’s important not to get too carried away when young players make an impression in the first team. But sometimes, one comes through who you can’t help but be excited about.
For Liverpool, that hasn’t happened often enough over the last 20 years. For every Trent Alexander-Arnold there are twenty or thirty youngsters who have promised such a lot, but never really delivered.
With Bajcetic though, it feels a little different. Just as when Trent first came into the team, Klopp has trusted him with playing in big, big games.
Some may remember Alexander-Arnold being thrown in at Old Trafford back in 2017. At the time, Klopp didn’t have too many other options, with Nathaniel Clyne out injured.
But regardless, it was a big call to throw the then 18-year-old in for his first Premier League start. From that point on, Trent never really looked back, becoming a mainstay in the most successful Liverpool team of the modern era.
There are similarities with Bajcetic, who has already been trusted from the start in big games against Everton and Chelsea. If he’s to progress in the same way as Alexander-Arnold Liverpool will have another gem on their hands. Not many develop into the player Liverpool’s No.66 has become though, so caution should be exercised. For now though, the signs are very, very good.