Liverpool completed a deal with one of the youngest stars in soccer right before 2020 ended. According to The Athletic, Liverpool completed the signing of 16-year old defender Stefan Bajcetic from Celta Vigo. Manchester United fielded interest in Bajcetic, but Liverpool had been scouting him since 2019.
Welcome Stefan Bajcetic
Bajcetic joins Birmingham City left-back Calum Scanlon as another signing, who is a 15-year old defender. Both players will likely keep Liverpool at the top among all oddsmakers, such as Bet365 Bonus. Since 2019, Bajcetic has been a central defender that has impressed Liverpool since he was first watched. He has been at the Spanish club Celta Vigo for seven years. According to the report, Liverpool’s academy director Alex Inglethorpe, assistant director Nick Marshall, and U23s coach Barry Lewtas convinced Bajectic to join Liverpool over Manchester United.
For now, Liverpool has one of the most standout academies in England with their U18s team second overall. In the Premier League, Liverpool remains in first place with 33 points, coming from nine wins, one loss, and six draws. Manchester United and Everton are both close behind with 30 points.
The Potential
The fact that Liverpool was willing to make this deal right now speaks volumes about his potential. Compared to other clubs, Liverpool is not known for making investments in players that are at the academy level. Other clubs have made risks in signing players at a young age, but Liverpool typically waits until they mature. Not this time, which says that this player could have a lot of untapped potentials that we do not know much about.
Both Bajcetic and Scanlon impressed the club enough with their character off the field according to The Athletic. That was an integral part of Liverpool believing that they will easily integrate onto their team.
Both Will Not Play This Season
Even if there wasn’t a pandemic, neither player would likely play. Besides, there’s a chance that the professional team may not play either. As COVID outbreaks are reaching records, the Premier League is adamant that the league can finish its season. According to recent reports, the Premier League has “full confidence” they can finish the season.
This comes after the league had to postpone Tottenham’s battle with Fulham on Wednesday. The outbreak with Fulham forced the game to be postponed just three hours before kick-off. On Monday, Everton’s clash with Manchester City was called off four hours before kick-off due to an unspecified number of positive cases. However, from coaches to the most controversial football players, everyone is confused the Premier League doesn’t appear to have a plan to handle this. The report mentioned one club referring to the situation as “embarrassing.”
