Who is Stefan Bajcetic? The young midfielder making waves at Liverpool

Promoted as a 17-year-old into Liverpool’s senior squad this summer, young midfielder Stefan Bajcetic has gone from strength to strength under Jurgen Klopp in the precious minutes he’s been afforded so far this season.

From scoring his first Premier League goal, to earning his first minutes in the Champions League – it’s been a season of firsts for Bajcetic. Tuesdaynight saw him start and play 75 minutes in the FA Cup third round replay against Wolves, as the Reds came away with a hard-fought one-goal victory over Julian Lopetegui’s side.

Most will have known Bajcetic from his pre-season performances but now he has begun to catch the eye whenever Klopp hands him a chance to perform. But how did Bajcetic find his way into Liverpool’s first-team squad, and what is his story?

Bajcetic, born in Vigo, Spain in October 2004 is the son of former Serbian footballer Srdan Bajcetic, who played for European clubs such as Braga, Red Star Belgrade and Celta Vigo. Following in his father’s footsteps, he is a product of the Celta Vigo academy, having joined the Spanish academy aged nine.

His glowing reputation as a youth player saw him catch the eye of Liverpool, who forked out £224,000 in 2020 to sign the young prospect. According to the Athletic, Manchester United were also interested in the Celta Vigo player but the trio of academy director Alex Inglethorpe, assistant academy director Nick Marshall and under-23s coach Barry Lewtas were all on hand to help convince him to make the move to Merseyside..

He went onto make his U18 debut as an U16 player in 2020, before then moving onto the U21s in the 2021/22 season, where he made his Premier League 2 and UEFA Youth League debuts. Whilst everything was going smoothly, he sadly missed the last three months of the season with injury.

Despite that, he was included in Klopp’s first-team squad for their tour of Asia in July 2022 and featured regularly across the warm-up games in defensive midfield, but the 18-year-old is also capable of playing in defence, something he spoke about during the summer tour to Liverpool’s official website.

“I always played centre-back growing up but now I think I’m capable of playing there [midfield]. If they give me the opportunity, I will. To be honest, I don’t mind [where I play]. I just want to play football. If the staff and coach thinks I’m needed there, I will play there.

“Especially for this club, the way he [Fabinho] plays, I think, is the best, and I always try to look at him and learn from him. It’s obviously tough to play like him but I always try to look at him and learn from his positioning, his pressing and all that.”

Outside of Liverpool, he made his youth debut for Spain at U18 level in September 2021 and chose to play for Spain despite being eligible for Serbia. Following his performance on Tuesday night against Wolves, former Red Luis Garcia claimed Bajcetic showed that he had the credentials to be the present/future of Liverpool and Spain’s midfield – high praise indeed.

With the bulk of 268 minutes of senior action so far coming in the domestic cups, he has featured across every competition Liverpool have played so far, in what has been great experience in his first season with the first-team squad.

But his performance against Wolves suggests he is ready to take on more responsibility – perhaps starting with Chelsea at the weekend. Maybe that game could be a game too soon, but to perform at Molineux in a big game shows he has mettle and maturity to be a Fabinho alternative, as Liverpool wait until the summer transfer window to address their midfield liabilities.

Klopp has always abided by the mantra ‘if they’re good enough, then they’re old enough’ across his career and with Fabinho carrying such a heavy load as the only senior defensive midfielder – which has negatively affected his performances this year – then Bajcetic is certainly ready to carry the baton from time to time, as long as he can recreate the quality he showed against Wolves. He is certainly one to watch for the present, as much as the future.