Liverpool may have gone down to defeat against Preston in their first pre-season friendly on Friday, but there were still some positives to take from the game at the AXA Training Centre.
The Daily Mail’s Merseyside football reporter Lewis Steele was among those to witness it transpire, and in his post-match assessment, he pinpointed two players whose presence will have thoroughly pleased Arne Slot.
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Taking to X, the journalist posted: “Good to see Stefan Bajcetic get some minutes. Will be interesting to see how he fares after a horror year with injury.”
Within the same tweet, he added: “Good to see Ben Doak back on the pitch too after a nasty injury wrecked what could have been a big season.”
But on a serious note: good to see Stefan Bajcetic get some minutes. Will be interesting to see how he fares after a horror year with injury.
Sepp van den Berg clearly being handed a big chance to impress during the off-season and taking it so far.
Mo Salah as No 9? Could just…
— Lewis Steele (@LewisSteele_) July 19, 2024
As Steele pointed out, the two talented youngsters both had their 2023/24 season effectively written off by injury.
Bajcetic made only three first-team appearances last term, two of which came in September (Transfermarkt), as adductor and calf problems prevented him from building upon the impression he’d made when he broke into Jurgen Klopp’s side in the previous campaign.
Meanwhile, Doak had mustered five senior outings in the first half of the season before undergoing knee surgery in December. He recovered in time to make Scotland’s provisional squad for Euro 2024, but injury issues ultimately shattered his dreams of making it to the tournament.
With both players still in their teenage years and only making their way back after such lengthy absences, Arne Slot will likely take his time with them and incrementally boost their minutes, rather than throwing them in at the deep end and running the risk of aggravating the problems which have afflicted them.
The duo will probably be on the fringes of the first team even when fit, but as we saw last season, a window of opportunity can suddenly open up for young players at Liverpool.
If that happens again during 2024/25, here’s hoping Bajcetic and Doak are able to seize their moment and make that significant leap from youthful prodigies to senior mainstays.
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