Liverpool midfielder could make first appearance in six months as Jurgen Klopp 'really happy'

Stefan Bajcetic is set to step up his Liverpool recovery from a long-term injury this week.

The midfielder has endured a frustrating 2023-24 campaign because of growing-related issues and been limited to just two appearances - both coming in September.

In truth, it's been a year of problems for Bajcetic. After enjoying a breakthrough season last term in which he made 19 appearances, he underwent adductor surgery in March 2023. And while he was built up slowly in pre-season before making appearances against LASK and Leicester City in the Europa League and Carabao Cup respectively, the 19-year-old has not made an outing since.

Liverpool have been cautious with Bajcetic given the nature of his complaint. The Reds have not wanted to prolong his issues down the line.

As a result, Bajcetic has gone through his own pre-season fitness programme of late. And as confirmed by Jurgen Klopp before the 2-1 victory, the Spain youth international is due to make a full return to training the with the under-21s this week.

Bajcetic will step up his recovery with Barry Lewtas' youngsters. Klopp said: “He is now in partial training with the under-21s and he will be in full training with the under-21s next week because we pretty much don’t train because we play all the time. Then after that he will join our training. That’s the plan and then we will see.

“But the boy grew, put a few muscles on, looks good. Conor Bradley didn’t need long after he was out for a long, long time as well. He is a smart kid so I think he will be fine, but what do I know? I’ve never been that long injured in that age group.

“He watched definitely a lot of football. It is not that he played with us now regularly, he played early in the season. I forgot that actually, but he did, and then everything went the wrong way. But now he is nearly back and I’m really happy for him and happy for us.”

In truth, it is likely that Bajcetic will make a return to action with the under-21s before he's deemed ready to step up to the first team. Harvey Elliott did similar when battling back from broken leg in the 2021-22 season, while Curtis Jones made an outing for the young Reds last term after a freak leg injury.

Lewtas' side return to action for the first time in three weeks when they travel to Blackburn Rovers on Saturday (12.00 BST). Should Bajcetic have a good week, there could be a chance he makes a cameo off the bench.