He was supposed to be the future. Bajcetic has left Liverpool for good.
Four years after becoming Liverpool's youngest midfielder in a generation, Stefan Bajcetic has gone to Celta Vigo permanently — for €1.5m.
Stefan Bajcetic has completed a permanent transfer from Liverpool to Celta Vigo, ending five and a half years at a club where he was, briefly, one of the most talked-about teenagers in English football.
Celta will pay a reported €1.5m plus performance-related add-ons. Bajcetic is expected to sign a three-year contract, and Liverpool have retained a buy-back option — the clause of a club that is not entirely sure it is right to let him go.
The 9-0
He made his debut under Jürgen Klopp in August 2022, a second-half substitute in the 9-0 win over Bournemouth, aged 17. Within months he was starting in midfield in the Premier League and being described, not unreasonably, as the answer to a problem Liverpool had been unable to buy their way out of.
He finishes with 22 senior appearances and one goal.
What went wrong
Injuries, mostly, and the particular cruelty of their timing. Bajcetic did not appear at all during 2025-26. A player who at 18 looked like he had years to establish himself instead spent the years establishing that his body would not let him.
Celta is where he came from, and a three-year deal at 21 is a reasonable place to start again. The buy-back suggests Liverpool think so too.
Transfer confirmed by Liverpool FC. Fee and contract terms per reporting from This Is Anfield and Yahoo Sports.
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