Liverpool's Midfield Reshuffle: Bajcetic Heads to Celta with No Replacement
Liverpool’s midfield reshuffle is accelerating – and it’s not heading where many supporters expected.
While the noise around Anfield has centred on wide forwards, the real surgery is happening in the middle of the pitch. Curtis Jones has already gone, sold to Inter Milan in a deal worth £30m. Now another midfielder is on his way out, and the club have made a firm call on whether anyone new will come in.
That answer is blunt: no.
Bajcetic set for Celta return in cut‑price permanent deal
Stefan Bajcetic is on the brink of leaving Liverpool, returning to the club that first shaped him.
Reporter Matteo Moretto has revealed that Liverpool and Celta Vigo have reached a club-to-club agreement for the 21-year-old. As relayed by AnfieldSector from Moretto’s comments on DAZN_ES, it will be a permanent transfer.
The structure is striking. Celta will pay virtually nothing up front. The package is built around bonuses and a sell-on percentage, with Liverpool retaining a cut of any future sale rather than banking a fee now.
Given Bajcetic is in the final year of his contract and has played fewer than 60 matches in four years amid constant injury problems, Liverpool’s decision to accept only a nominal return is hardly a surprise. They are effectively betting on his recovery from afar, hoping the sell-on clause becomes valuable if he finally gets a clear run in Spain.
Bajcetic is expected to undergo his Celta medical soon. Transfer specialist Fabrizio Romano has also reported that Celta are closing in on personal terms with the midfielder, underlining how advanced the move has become.
For Bajcetic, it ends a nightmare spell in England. For Liverpool, it removes another body from a midfield department that already felt light.
A thin defensive core – and a bold internal gamble
Strip the squad back and the central options look exposed.
- Ryan Gravenberch
- Dominik Szoboszlai
- Alexis Mac Allister
- Trey Nyoni
- Wataru Endo
- Bajcetic
Only Endo and Bajcetic are naturally defensive-minded, and both have been pushed down the pecking order.
Now one of those two is leaving.
Logic screams for a replacement. The club’s hierarchy is going the other way.
TEAMtalk reported earlier this week that Liverpool have decided to promote teenager Trey Nyoni, elevating him to fourth choice in the midfield hierarchy. Szoboszlai, Gravenberch and Mac Allister will contest the two starting roles, Nyoni sits just behind them, and Endo is viewed as fifth choice.
The Athletic have backed that stance. Their Liverpool reporter James Pearce wrote that, despite the growing clamour for midfield reinforcements – noise that only grew louder after the dramatic 2-2 draw with Newcastle – senior club figures insist the focus remains on strengthening the wide attacking positions.
“They don’t intend to replace Jones, as they see teenager Trey Nyoni as ready to step up and play a bigger part this season,” Pearce reported. Unless there is a late change of heart, the forward line is the only area Liverpool plan to bolster.
So the picture is clear. Jones gone. Bajcetic going. No new midfielder lined up. Faith placed squarely in Nyoni and the versatility of the remaining senior trio.
It is a calculated risk. The only question now is whether that gamble holds when the season’s strain bites into Liverpool’s engine room.
