Editor’s Column: Stefan Bajcetic and Tyler Morton leaving leaves Liverpool short in midfield

Liverpool have been ruthless when it comes to outgoings this summer, and fairly toothless the other way.

With Sepp van den Berg leaving for £25m, the Reds have made over £60m in total including the sales of Fabio Carvalho and Bobby Clark.

Now, it seems like a whole number of youngsters, many of whom shone last season, will also be set for the exit door before the transfer window closes.

According to Jack Lusby of This is Anfield, Ben Doak, Kaide Gordon, Tyler Morton, Stefan Bajcetic, Owen Beck, James McConnell and Calum Scanlon are all available for either loan or permanent transfers, due to the fact they are not playing for the U21s right now to avoid potential injury.

By the end of the window, Liverpool could easily have made up to £100m in sales, which is some doing considering the fact that not one of the players were expected to get significant minutes this season under Arne Slot.

But are we not leaving ourselves short, especially in central midfield?

Morton and Bajcetic would be very, very solid backup options. Morton has been excellent in the Championship for both Blackburn and Hull and the fact the club has put a £20m price-tag on him (Yorkshire Post) suggests he’s a respected and capable performer.

At 21-years-old, he has room to grow, but has already shown signs of being a technically composed controller. Someone who can probe spaces but also control the pace of the game.

There were even higher hopes though for Bajcetic. When he burst onto the scene two seasons ago, Liverpool fans thought we’d found our Fabinho-reincarnate, just as the Brazilian was falling off a cliff. Tall, rangy and with superb, physical tackling, Bajcetic was Liverpool’s best player, aged 18, during a horrible spell of form.

He was getting games ahead of both Fabinho and Jordan Henderson – and deservedly so.

Last season though was a bad one. He played virtually no games at all, struggling with injuries picked up related to growth spurts. He’s now properly filled out – he’s big, strong and imposing – but Slot is seemingly not impressed.

Why else would he sanction a departure? If the Dutchman rated what he’d seen from Bajcetic this summer, rest assured, he’d be staying. Trey Nyoni is staying and will train with the first-team. Nyoni is clearly ahead of Bajcetic in the pecking order, despite having only just turned 17.

But are we not leaving ourselves short in the double pivot? Having failed to sign Martin Zubimedi, we have Alexis Mac Allister and Ryan Gravenberch as the starting pair. Curtis Jones is next in, with the unwanted Wataru Endo the fourth choice. Then Nyoni as the wildcard.

Obviously Dom Szoboszlai and Trent Alexander-Arnold provide other options, but they’re already the starting no.10 and starting right-back respectively.

Morton and Bajcetic provided strength in depth, something we’ll undeniably need with extra Champions League games and the domestic cup competitions.

Right now, we’re fine, as for a stint we’ll be playing one game a week, but this never lasts. The fixture list ramps up, as do the injuries. We might not get as unlucky as we did last term, but we’re still going to lose players. It’s highly intense, elite football. Players get injured – and many of ours are prone to them.

If we let Morton and Bajcetic leave, we simply have to bring in a no.6. I refuse to believe the only midfielder on the planet who is potentially available and will strengthen our options is Zubimendi.

Michael Edwards and Richard Hughes are supposed to have huge shortlists of options from all over the world. While they’ve sold well, they haven’t signed a single player and time is running out.

It is very fair that fans are worried. It would be negligent to go into the season without a single new arrival, when much of the depth has been gutted from the club.

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