Liverpool assistant boss Pep Lijnders has hailed starlet Stefan Bajcetic as the 18-year-old prepares to feature against Derby.
The Reds will host the League One side in the third round of the Carabao Cup on Wednesday night, with Jurgen Klopp expected to rest virtually all of his first-team stars. That will mean academy players will be handed a chance to impress as Liverpool look to retain the trophy they won last season.
That is likely to see Bajcetic make just his fifth-ever appearance for the Reds' senior team, having starred for their academy since joining from Celta Vigo two years ago. All four of his outings for the first-team have come this season, with three appearances in the Champions League and one cameo in the Premier League.
But the defensive midfielder has clearly done enough in those appearances to impress Lijnders. Klopp's number two could not hide his belief that the Spaniard will go on to become a key player for the Reds.
“Stefan is a joy to watch. He has all the characteristics we search for as a midfield player. He played in the past as a centre-half, so he’s really good in the challenges, which we need," Lijnders said.
"One of our bigger problems this season is stopping counter-attacks, so we can stay in the opposition half. He is the type of player who has this attribute. It’s really nice to see. He’s young, hungry, shows every day in training that he’s really ready.
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"It’s up to us to lead well with him, give him the right moments and all these things. I cannot say if he starts or not, but hopefully we will see him tomorrow. Honestly, sometimes the academy gives you presents, and he’s one of them.”
Bajcetic will be part of a youthful line-up, with back-up goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher already confirmed as starting in place of Alisson. And Lijnders has insisted that trusting youth is a philosophy that is crucial to Liverpool's success.
"If you work for this club, you have to trust young players, because the generations before made this club. We have to create again this kind of environment where young talent can step up and be decisive," he added.
“Of course, we want to see them. It would be idiotic not to do that, because the talent is huge. Otherwise, all the time, all the energy, all the money we invest, also our owners, our staff, first-team staff, academy staff, it doesn’t make sense to have 200 boys there running around and not using them.
If something has been proven over the last years, it’s that we need the whole squad if you want to be successful and that’s why we brought young players in, like Calvin, like Fabio, and we always try to mix these games with a lot of experience with talent.
“The reason why we change is always that we want freshness and we want talent and we believe that to win the game tomorrow, we always want to put a team out who has to prove, who wants to show, who wants to bring us further in this cup."
