How Liverpool midfielder Stefan Bajcetic has privately reacted to being sent out on loan by Arne Slot

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Liverpool have tough decisions to make over some of their players in the final days of the transfer window.

The Reds have had a quiet summer in the market, preferring to let Arne Slot assess every player available to him before taking any action.

After a good pre-season in which he worked with many of the promising Liverpool academy starlets, Slot looks to have made a call on which players he likes and which he maybe does not.

The 45-year-old appears to be a decisive head coach, which is something that should help Liverpool as they aim to complete their first-team squad by Friday’s deadline.

It is the nature of the game that not every player will be happy with what Slot decides. And it seems that the Dutchman may have now disappointed one of Liverpool’s most exciting youngsters.

Stefan Bajcetic surprised by Arne Slot decision

Liverpool don’t have any great need to trim down their squad massively in the next few days. However, it could benefit some young players in particular to look for moves away from Anfield.

One who that applies to more than most is Stefan Bajcetic. After a difficult 18 months with injury, the Spaniard is now fit.

Staff at Liverpool have high hopes for Bajcetic and there had been some expectation that the 19-year-old could be could be exactly what Slot is looking for in a midfielder.

However, perhaps a little rusty from his period on the sidelines, Bajcetic obviously did not catch the head coach’s eye enough in pre-season.

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As a result, Bajcetic is set to join RB Salzburg on loan for the season. And according to journalist Graeme Bailey, this has surprised a few at Liverpool, including the player himself.

“Bajcetic [being loaned] is a bit of a surprise to people within the club,” Bailey exclusively tells Rousing The Kop. “He’s very popular within the club but obviously he’s not going permanently at this point.

“Real Sociedad showed an interest in him, a lot of clubs showed an interest in him. Obviously Lijnders getting him, it probably helped that he knows the player so they’re probably thinking that.

“His career certainly isn’t over at Liverpool,” adds the reporter. “But there were quite a few surprised that he wasn’t more in the mix. I think the player is as well to be fair, but it is what it is.”

Does Stefan Bajcetic have a Liverpool future?

Tuesday was a good day for Salzburg as they qualified for the Champions League for a sixth successive season.

Pep Lijnders has had a very good start to life as a manager with the Austrian side and it will be nice to see the Dutchman link up with Bajcetic again.

In terms of Stefan himself, he has to put the disappointment of this summer to one side and focus on playing week in, week out for Salzburg. If he can do that, then Bajcetic still has a real shot at being a big player for Liverpool.

Had he not picked up the injury when he did, we still think the youngster would be a fixture in the side by now. Jurgen Klopp thought Bajcetic was ‘incredible‘ and luck simply has not been on his side.

But if Bajcetic goes the other way and has another year without playing too much football, the promise of a future at Liverpool will start to slip away. Big campaign ahead for Stefan, go out and prove Arne wrong!