6 days ago
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Liverpool faces a further wait to discover when Stefan Bajcetic could return to action after the midfielder underwent hamstring surgery earlier this year.
Bajcetic suffered a serious hamstring injury during a loan spell with Las Palmas last season, which required an operation in May, and he has yet to return to the field.
Liverpool Under-21s manager Rob Page could not give a meaningful update on Bajcetic's state as he spoke to Liverpool.com on Sunday.
"No, not yet," Page responded when asked for an update on Bajcetic. "We should know more in the next couple of weeks."
Bajcetic spent the second half of last season on loan at Las Palmas after the Liverpool midfielder pushed for his spell with RB Salzburg to be terminated.
There was no January recall option in the season-long loan deal that took Bajcetic to Salzburg in the summer of 2024, so the expectation was that he would remain with the Austrian side until the end of last season, but the youngster was keen to move on following the sacking of manager Pep Lijnders in December.
The presence of Jurgen Klopp's former assistant in Salzburg was a key factor in Bajcetic's decision to move to Austria in the first place, but Lijnders was dismissed just before Christmas following a run of disappointing results.
Salzburg had paid a significant loan fee to land Bajcetic for the duration of the 2024-25 season, but was willing to let him leave as he had fallen down the pecking order under new manager Thomas Letsch.
Bajcetic had a choice between Las Palmas and Porto, but opted for the former.
Slot claimed when Bajcetic was leaving for Salzburg that the player was in his long-term plans at Anfield: “I hope it will be a big year for him because he’s a very talented player and I think he could become a very important player for us, but only if he gets playing time now."
Slot added: "It’s a smart decision, at least in our opinion, to let him go somewhere, where he will hopefully play a lot of games. Then for next season, we’ll have a player. If he fulfils his potential, [he] could definitely, definitely play for us in the future.”
It is not clear where Bajcetic is in Slot's plans now after a difficult few months for the player. The 21-year-old is contracted to the Reds until 2027.
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