Red Bull Salzburg have reached an agreement with Liverpool to sign Stefan Bajcetic on loan, despite a late hijack attempt from Barcelona.
Salzburg were working to recruit the 19-year-old midfielder until Barcelona made an approach after Marc Bernal suffered a knee ligament injury.
But the La Liga side did not manage to finalise a deal and that has enabled Salzburg to secure Bajcetic’s services on a temporary basis for the 2024-25 season, with Liverpool receiving a fee.
The Spain Under-21 international is set to travel to Austria on Thursday to complete the move.
They are coached by former Liverpool assistant Pep Lijnders and have signed fellow midfielder Bobby Clark from the Merseyside club in a £10million ($13.2m) deal last week.
Bajcetic joined Liverpool from Celta’s youth team in 2020 and has made 22 first-team appearances for the club.
The Spain Under-21 international enjoyed a breakthrough season in Liverpool’s senior squad in the 2022-23 campaign but has suffered injury problems in the past 18 months.
An adductor injury sustained in March 2023 ruled him out for the remainder of that season while he also missed the majority of the 2023-24 campaign with a calf injury.
Bajcetic, who is also eligible to represent Serbia at international level, was restricted to just three appearances last season with his only minutes in the Premier League coming as a substitute in May’s 4-2 victory at home against Tottenham Hotspur.
He is Liverpool’s youngest-ever player to start a Champions League knockout match, having played in the 2-5 home defeat against Real Madrid on February 21, 2023 at the age of 18 years and 122 days.
Liverpool have Harvey Elliott, Wataru Endo, Curtis Jones, Dominik Szoboszlai, Alexis Mac Allister and Ryan Gravenberch as their central midfield options, as well as academy graduate Trey Nyoni.
GO DEEPER
After Stefan Bajcetic’s long road to fitness, where does he fit in at Liverpool?
(Michael Regan/Getty Images)
