Two-hundred and twenty-two days stood between Stefan Bajcetic‘s final match before injury to his first-team return against Tottenham, a long road to recovery that left him praising the club.
After catching the eye and being one of the shining lights from last season, 2023/24 has proved a frustrating one besieged by injury for Bajcetic.
He made just two appearances at the start of the season before being sidelined by what was described as severe ‘growing pains’, forcing him to miss 41 games before returning to the matchday squad.
The club did seek to reintroduce him first at under-21s level, which saw him play three times in April before he came on at Tottenham for his first senior appearance since September.
It is a plan that the 19-year-old praised when speaking to LFCTV: “It was important to start with the U21s first to get my rhythm back a little bit.
“You know how the Premier League is, it’s so quick!
“It was good management by the club and me to play a bit with the U21s to get rhythm. Now I’m ready to step up.”
His first dip back into first-team action, though, was not as smooth as hoped with Jurgen Klopp suggesting it was an oversight to bring him on for 25 minutes against Spurs.
Klopp said: “Stefan who looks really good in training, but (against Tottenham) obviously you saw, he comes on and it’s like you arrive on the motorway with your bicycle.”
A lack of sharpness showed, but the young Spaniard was just happy to be back and is hoping the setbacks are behind him for good.
Bajcetic said: “It’s been a long time. It’s good to be back. I still need to improve a lot, still need to get my rhythm back and keep playing, hopefully.
“I came back and played a couple of games [earlier in the season], but then I was feeling it again.
“So I wanted to recover properly, get stronger in all my body really so that I would not get it back.
“Hopefully, touch wood!”
Fan Comments