{"id":139684,"date":"2025-09-13T07:50:07","date_gmt":"2025-09-13T07:50:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/139684\/"},"modified":"2025-09-13T07:50:07","modified_gmt":"2025-09-13T07:50:07","slug":"stefan-bajcetic-return-plan-as-midfielder-nears-first-appearance-since-surgery-liverpool-fc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/139684\/","title":{"rendered":"Stefan Bajcetic return plan as midfielder nears first appearance since surgery – Liverpool FC"},"content":{"rendered":"

Stefan Bajcetic<\/a> is nearing his first appearance since undergoing hamstring surgery in May, with plans in place to manage the Liverpool midfielder\u2019s return.<\/p>\n

Bajcetic required surgery to correct a hamstring issue picked up while on loan at Las Palmas last season, which meant he could not take part in pre-season.<\/p>\n

But the Spaniard, who stayed at Anfield beyond deadline day, has recently resumed individual training outdoors at the AXA Training Centre.<\/p>\n

While he is yet to be fully reintegrated to first-team training, all being well the 20-year-old will not be far off joining his Liverpool teammates for sessions.<\/p>\n

As he works his way back to full fitness, Bajcetic is expected to build up his minutes with the U21s in the weeks to come.<\/p>\n

\"LINZ,<\/p>\n

The Mail<\/a>\u2018s Lewis Steele reports that Arne Slot<\/a> was eager to retain his No. 43 despite a number of clubs being interested \u2013 including Celta Vigo, who sold him to Liverpool for just \u00a3224,000 in 2020.<\/p>\n

Given the competition for places in Slot\u2019s midfield and the hectic schedule, it is no surprise that \u2013 as he is eligible \u2013 Bajcetic could instead pick up game time with the U21s.<\/p>\n

Rob Page\u2019s young Reds do not play again until September 21, when they host Man United<\/a>, but that could provide a useful opportunity for the young midfielder.<\/p>\n

Bajcetic will turn 21 next month and therefore does not qualify for the U19s\u2019 UEFA Youth League, but he can be registered for the Champions League<\/a> as part of List B.<\/p>\n

Liverpool can afford to take caution as he is still a young player and Slot\u2019s midfield is well-stocked \u2013 despite a new injury<\/a> to Curtis Jones<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Slot\u2019s comments on Alexander Isak<\/a>\u2018s integration could be telling when it comes to the likely approach with Bajcetic, who like the striker has not had a \u201cproper pre-season.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe missed a proper pre-season, I think he missed three or four months of team sessions, and so now we have to build him up gradually,\u201d Slot said of Isak.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith us playing so many games, hardly any training time, that\u2019s going to be a challenge.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut we\u2019ve sign him not only for the upcoming weeks, we\u2019ve signed him for six years.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is what we have to keep in mind and what the fans have to keep in mind if they see me taking him off at a certain moment, or if I only bring him in for a small amount of minutes.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s all for the long-term fitness of the player.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Stefan Bajcetic is nearing his first appearance since undergoing hamstring surgery in May, with plans in place to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":139685,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[563],"tags":[64,63,596,7886,85],"class_list":["post-139684","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-football","tag-liverpool-fc","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139684","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=139684"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139684\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/139685"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=139684"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=139684"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=139684"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}