Liverpool midfielder Fabinho has hailed the quality of the club's youngsters over the course of pre-season and labelled Stefan Bajcetic's display against RB Leipzig as 'really important'.
The Reds departed Merseyside on Thursday morning as they travelled over to Austria, via Germany, to begin the next phase of their pre-season preparations. The whistle-stop tour of Germany saw the Reds visit the Red Bull Arena for their third pre-season fixture of the summer, with Bundesliga side RB Leipzig the opponents.
Jurgen Klopp's team selection signalled a clear increase in the seriousness of the summer schedule as he named Virgil van Dijk, Mohamed Salah, Roberto Firmino and Luis Diaz amongst others in his starting XI, before the likes of Darwin Nunez, Jordan Henderson and Fabio Carvalho joined the action in the second half.
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Nunez grabbed the headlines as he marked his second half appearance by opening his Liverpool account from the penalty spot, before adding a further three goals to his tally before the referee called time on their 5-0 thrashing of the German outfit.
However, it was 17-year-old Stefan Bajcetic who caught the eye of Fabinho with his impressive outing during the closing stages of the victory.
"He did really well, he was really important in the fourth goal," the Brazilian told Liverpoolfc.com.
"He recovered the ball in a really important area and then he passed to Harvey [Elliott] and Harvey did the assist to Darwin [Nunez]. It’s important. He has trained with us, he will get better, he will have more confidence to take the ball, to turn, to do some stuff that the No.6 does."
The versatile midfielder was one of a number of academy players handed the opportunity to impress during the second phase of pre-season as the club embarked on their European-based tour, with the youngster being joined by Kaide Gordon, Sep van den Berg, Fabian Mrozek, Harvey Davies and Tyler Morton - who have all impressed the Reds' No.6 so far.
"It’s nice to have not just him but the other young lads as well playing really good football. We have a lot of talent in this team now; we have Fabio Carvalho, Harvey Elliott, Curtis, Stefan, Tyler as well. It’s important for them to show their quality as well."
Bajcetic moved to Merseyside in the final months of 2020 after the Reds beat Manchester United to the signing of the then Celta Vigo youngster, in a deal worth roughly £250,000.
Typically operating as a centre-back, the Spaniard was moved to holding midfield earlier this year and earned himself a reputation as one of the academy's finest youngsters as he regularly put in impressive performances for Marc Bridge-Wilkinson's U18s side.
His cameo against the Bundesliga side was rounded off with a contribution to Nunez's third, and the Reds' fourth, as he pressed impressively to win the ball back just outside the Leipzig box before laying the ball of to Harvey Elliott, who crossed for Nunez to poach home.
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