Stefan Bajčetić broke into Liverpool's first team as a teenager back in 2022, playing 19 games in that first season and convincing just about everybody around the club that his long-term future was at the base of midfield for the Reds. Injuries, though, soon forced their way into the mix.
Now, Bajčetić is joining Celta de Vigo in the city where he was born and grew up in after the Reds agreed a base €1.5M fee plus unspecified add-ons for the defensive midfielder. He had one year left on his Liverpool contract.
Towards the end of Bajčetić's stellar 2022-23 debut season, shortly after signing a new long-term deal, the promising youngster suffered an adductor injury that ruled him out the rest of that season. The following season, 2023-24, saw him struggle with minor injuries and to rediscover his best form, and then in 2024-25 he headed out on loan to RB Leipzig.
Despite making 19 appearances in Germany, he was recalled the following January and headed to Las Palmas to finish out the second half of the season. He returned to the Reds in 2025-26 but failed to make a single first team appearance.
There was some perhaps natural hope in the fanbase that the arrival of new manager Andoni Iraola might give the now 21-year-old Bajčetić an opportunity to get back to his best with the Reds, but his minutes in pre-season were limited and talk soon turned to questions of where he might go to try to get his career back on track.
Hopefully Celta will provide him the opportunity to do just that, and given his age there's still plenty of time for that if Bajčetić is able to put his injury struggles behind him and get a little regular football under his belt.
