Stefan Bajcetic is set to return to Liverpool training when day one of the pre-season schedule begins on Saturday.
Bajcetic made 19 appearances in total last term following a breakthrough campaign at senior level but saw his season ended in mid-March after he suffered an adductor injury.
The teenager hasn't featured for the Reds since he completed 90 minutes for the first time in the Premier League in a 1-0 loss to Bournemouth on March 11 but is now set to head back to training with Jurgen Klopp's first team.
Klopp revealed before the 4-4 draw with Southampton on May 28 that he was hopeful of Bajcetic being fit in time for the start of the pre-season programme and the club have now announced the 18-year-old will be part of a small contingent that reports for duty at the AXA Training Centre on Saturday.
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However, it is expected that Bajcetic, who joined from Celta Vigo in December 2020, will be gradually eased back into proceedings ahead of a long summer itinerary that will see the Reds play five times across Germany, Singapore and at Preston North End's Deepdale.
With new signings Dominik Szoboszlai and Alexis Mac Allister joining their colleagues at training from July 11 and Thiago Alcantara and Fabinho also part of the cohort that heads back this weekend, there will be no risks taken on Bajcetic, whose rise has been impressive since he moved to the club as 16-year-old defender.
"There’s progress," Klopp said in late May. "I spoke yesterday [with Bajcetic] along with the doc. There will be - around [the] start of pre-season - there will be parts of reintegration, but that will take time. So, he’s not in full training. That’s the prediction at the moment. He’s completely pain-free, but we talk about a very young player and a very young body, so we have to be careful."
Bajcetic, Thiago and Fabinho will be joined by Darwin Nunez, Joe Gomez, Joel Matip, Nathaniel Phillips and goalkeeper Adrian ahead of the return of the internationals on Tuesday. Curtis Jones and Harvey Elliott's involvement in the final of the Under-21s European Championship on Saturday, with England, means they will link up with their colleagues further down the line.
Liverpool fly to Germany for a training camp in the Black Forest ahead of friendlies with Karlsruhe and Greuther Furth before a trip to Singapore sees them meet Leicester City and Bayern Munich.
From there, the Reds fly back to Merseyside and will meet another German outfit, SV Darmstadt on August 7 before their Premier League campaign kicks off at Chelsea six days later.
