In some ways, Stefan Bajcetic has found himself in a sort of Liverpool limbo this season.
The 17-year-old enjoyed an excellent pre-season with Jurgen Klopp's senior squad after his performances in the youth ranks the previous campaign had sufficiently caught the eye of assistant manager Pep Lijnders.
"I really believe in our project looking at our Academy," Lijnders said at the start of the year. "For example, I spent yesterday morning at the Academy to speak with the coaches and Alex Inglethorpe.
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"We look all the time at the Academy. Our U18s played against Burnley in the FA Youth Cup, we had Bobby Clark, Luke Chambers, Stefan Bajcetic, they all stand out. I hope they come with us during the pre-season because it is important for them to have a proper pre-season to know exactly how we want to do things."
No doubt influenced by glowing reports from elite development coach, Vitor Matos, Lijnders and Klopp gave the former Celta Vigo teen his chance in pre-season and watched on as he impressed with measured and mature performances, both in training with his senior colleagues and in the friendlies.
Bajcetic has done enough to have earned himself a regular spot on the substitutes' bench this term as injuries have hit hard for Klopp already, particularly in the centre of the park.
But while opportunity has knocked somewhat for the player who joined for around £225,000 in December of 2020, the subsequent stumbling of the first team has thrown a roadblock onto the pathway he is currently on.
The 9-0 Bournemouth battering aside - when Bajcetic was given his Premier League debut with a 20-minute cameo after replacing Jordan Henderson - the perilous nature of every other game at senior level has meant Klopp has been unable to further the Spanish youth international's development with time on the pitch.
But, on the flip side, such has been the injury crisis in midfield that Bajcetic has been needed to fill up the nine-man benches across Liverpool's campaign to date, meaning games within the academy ranks have not been as plentiful as he might have expected. He's made just two appearances for the Under-21s so far and has played just 117 minutes for Barry Lewtas's team.
"I see him every day because he is still training with us and he's still with us," Under-21 manager Lewtas tells the ECHO. "So obviously he goes down there and plays with the [the senior team] and we've got Stefan and Bobby Clark who do that as well.
"We can add them both to our mix as well if we need, so in terms of Stefan, we have a really good system in place that we don't lose contact with the boys. It's not like they go with the first team [and then we don't see them], it's the same building, the same staff and we speak daily.
"So he's not with us all the time and at the moment he's having a fantastic experience with the first team but I think the real beauty of where we are now is those connections are stronger."
Such a fluid transition between senior and youth ranks for those on the cusp is one of the reasons the club took the decision to move from their iconic Melwood base to Kirkby nearly two years ago. It makes it logistically easier to move players across if and when they are required to play with Klopp's squad.
Previously players would need to be ferried across from Kirkby to Melwood, in West Derby, which was a 10-mile round journey for those who used to make the trip. It made ad-hoc call-ups less flexible.
Lewtas adds: "It's definitely a big benefit [of the move] and Stefan still changes with the lads because we train at similar times, so I still get to speak to him and he is getting the best of both worlds at the minute."
Liverpool's staff are understood to have been delighted with the progress made by Bajcetic both over the summer and as a whole since he joined the club after they rushed through a deal before the United Kingdom left the European Union to ensure they did not fall foul of the rule that now prohibits moves for players under the age of 18 from the continent.
The versatile 17-year-old is capable of performing at centre-back, but it's as a defensive midfielder where he has been deployed by Klopp. Such has been his growth and development within the senior set-up that Anfield sources have spoken about him being well ahead of his long-term schedule, although there is, understandably, a reluctance to overly expose him so early into his career.
"He's had a fantastic pre-season with the first-team and he's getting a little bit of a taste around senior players," says Lewtas. "And as I say he can still get experience as well [with us] in terms of the UEFA Youth League and Premier League 2 this season, so it's all good for him this season."
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