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Liverpool Echo

Sport

Ian Doyle

Liverpool £50m investment can prove its worth again as duo handed new opportunity

Bobby Clark Bajcetic Dubai Jurgen Klopp EPL Jude Bellingham World Cup Bournemouth (Organization)

It would be an understatement to suggest that this most strange, fractured of seasons has been met with similar enthusiasm of more regular campaigns.

For players, managers and supporters alike, the disruption caused by plonking the World Cup slap bang in the middle of the season has long been accepted as an unwelcome intrusion, self-inflicted by the sport compared to the unprecedented, turbulent recent years caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

Liverpool have perhaps suffered more than most - in the Premier League at least - with the truncated summer break and shortened pre-season contributing to the physical and mental fatigue that has compromised their efforts.

There have, though, been some beneficiaries among the tumult, with the occasional lack of senior options opening the door for the latest raft of Academy graduates to start making their mark with the first team.

It began in the summer during the pre-season tour to the Far East. Harvey Davies, Isaac Mabaya and Luke Chambers were all involved, but midfield duo Stefan Bajectic and Bobby Clark shone brightest and have since made the step up to the senior set-up. Indeed, both made their debut in the same game, coming off the bench in the club record 9-0 Premier League rout over Bournemouth at Anfield in August.

"Bobby is a good friend of mine and we've been both been working a lot and learning by training together, so it was nice to come on in the same game with him," says 18-year-old Bajcetic. "I suppose not many people can say they made their debut in a club record Premier League win! That's a good memory for us both."

Clark, still only 17, agrees. "When those goals were going in and it was a mad score at half-time I was seeing if it was my chance to get on!" he says. "It was 8-0 when I came on and the stadium was bouncing. I couldn't wait to get on. When the full-time whistle went I was just looking around thinking: this is mad. My goal was to try to make my Premier League debut as early as I could and obviously that was the perfect chance against Bournemouth."

Both come from football stock, with Bajcetic's dad Srdan having played in his native Serbia along with Spain, Portugal and China. Clark's father is former Newcastle United, Fulham and Sunderland midfielder Lee, most recently a manager in Sudan.

The young pair believe their inclusion on the trip to Bangkok and Singapore in July helped kickstart their respective senior careers at Liverpool. And with this unique season meaning the Reds head out to Dubai next month for a 12-day warm-weather training camp during the World Cup break, there is another opportunity to strengthen their claims, with the door also open for other Academy players to make an impression.

"Getting on the pre-season tour this summer was important," says Clark. "You get to see how everything works, how the pros do it and you learn so much over those few weeks. It was good to go into a squad with some big characters and some of the best players in the world. You've just got to make sure you give a good impression."

Bajcetic says: "Being able to go on the tour was so important because obviously when you move up to the senior squad it's difficult to show your best at first because you don't necessarily have the confidence.

"But to be with them for three weeks or more in different countries allowed me to get to know them better both on and off the pitch and, in turn, it's helped me then to show everything that I've got. I was definitely more confident with the ball as the time went on and that felt good."

There have been other opportunities for youth this season, with Ben Doak and Melkamu Frauendorf given an outing in the recent Carabao Cup third round win over Derby County - a game in which Bajcetic and Clark both made their first senior starts in midfield alongside the experience of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.

Such shows of faith in youth from Jurgen Klopp and his coaching staff have been made easier since the first team moved in alongside the under-21s in the £50million AXA Training Centre complex two years ago, with the Academy on the same site allowing for easier assessment of fledgling talent and the ability for them to fill in during senior training sessions.

"That's a big thing, to be fair," adds Clark. "With them being so close there are now so many opportunities. If the first team need players they can easily get them over from the under-21s or under-18s. You know the first team aren't far away so it's a big motivation to get a chance with them. I first started going over to the first team last season. I was nervous, but once you get there and you start getting your bearings you feel like you're part of it and the boss and the coaches are really good to you."

And Bajectic, who has made seven appearances this term, says: "It's been good to train every day with the first team. Obviously you learn a lot and then to make the bench allows you to see first-hand how they play and gives you the experience of being in big stadiums. Then as well I've also been getting minutes with the under-21s which has been very good and I've been learning a lot."

Both Clark and Bajcetic have shown the value of inclusion on an overseas tour for Liverpool youngsters. And opportunity may knock for the next generation again in Dubai.

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