Stefan Bajcetic has spent the first half of the season on loan at Salzburg but is now in talks to make a switch to Spain for the rest of the campaign.
The young midfielder followed Lijnders to Austria on loan after Jurgen Klopp‘s former assistant was named as Salzburg boss in the summer, but he was sacked after just six months.
Immediately, the news raised questions over whether Bajcetic could see his loan end early as it was the connection to Lijnders that would have appealed to Liverpool.
Salzburg paid a loan fee for his services and thus a recall is not entirely straightforward, but reports have since emerged that Real Betis are now in “advanced talks” to sign Bajcetic.
First reported by DaveOCKOP and later corroborated by Fabrizio Romano, Liverpool are set to break the loan deal with Salzburg and send Bajcetic to La Liga side Real Betis.
The 22-year-old, currently enjoying a winter break, has featured 18 times for Salzburg in the Bundesliga and Champions League – starting in nine of them for a total of 890 minutes.
Bajcetic is said to be “motivated by his desire for regular game time” and will hope Real Betis is the answer, they sit ninth in La Liga and 10th in the Europa Conference League.
As was the case with his move to Salzburg, Bajcetic will have a familiar face to turn to after Adrian joined Betis in the summer after his contract expired at Anfield.
He will also be familiar with Arthur Melo, who had a turbulent loan at Liverpool in 2022/23 and is due to sign for Betis imminently – they are working on this deal concurrently with their pursuit of Bajcetic.
