Celtic have been linked with a move for a talent currently at Liverpool.
A Celtic hero believes the club would be landing a Callum McGregor copycat if they raided Liverpool for a midfield man.
The Hoops have been criticised in some departments for a lack of transfer business so far this summer when it comes to nailed on first team members. Kieran Tierney and Benjamin Nygren have gone into the starting XI but others like Hayato Inamura, Callum Osmand and Ross Doohan have not been seen in competitive action so far.
One player they have been linked with is Liverpool midfielder Stefan Bajcetic. The 20-year-old broke into the Reds team in 2022 but injuries have blighted him, since spending time at Red Bull Salzburg and Los Palmas. Peter Grant liked the look of the Spaniard when he was breaking through at Anfield and believes the youth international could come in to play a role like captain Callum McGregor does in the Hoops midfield. Broadcaster Paul Cooney asked the pundit: “It's speculation at the moment, but Stefan Bajcetic at Liverpool, could he be on his way to Celtic?”
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Stefan Bajcetic to Celtic transfer latest
Grant told Go Radio: “Well, when I seen him playing coming in as a young player, he played a few games for Liverpool and he was outstanding. Then he got a bad injury and he went abroad. I'm not sure if it was Spain actually, and played over there. I don't know how well he'd done out there.
“But when he broke into the Liverpool squad, I thought he'd done excellent in a very, very good Liverpool side. He had handled himself ever so well. And he looked a real good talent. Where he is now Paul, his injuries and obviously I don't know the amount of game time he got out and loan.
“But I was very impressed with him at that particular time. So if he’s that type of player, probably the Callum McGregor role, that’s the area he would play. He was more of a playmaker than anything else.”
What Liverpool boss Arne Slot said about Stefan Bajcetic
Speaking last year after his loan to Salzburg, Liverpool head coach Arne Slot said: “I hope it will be a big year for him because he’s a very talented player and I think he could become a very important player for us, but only if he gets playing time now. If you are that young and you’ve been out for so long, the only thing you need is playing time. He could have playing time over here, but we’ve got six or seven very good midfielders, so his playing time here will always be more limited than we expect him to play at Salzburg.
“So for him, and us, we think it’s best for him to play at the moment, instead of maybe playing a few times and then being on the bench for a long time again. It’s very difficult to keep a player fit who’s been out for 15 months when you only play him once in a while.
“So this is for the long term. Again, this club has been smart, in my opinion, in the past for not only looking for the short term, but also the long term. It’s a smart decision, at least in our opinion, to let him go somewhere, where he will hopefully play a lot of games. Then for next season, we’ll have a player. If he fulfils his potential, [he] could definitely, definitely play for us in the future.”
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