Loan Watch: Analysing Stefan Bajčetić’s season on loan at Las Palmas

Written on 15/06/2025

After a difficult 2023/24 campaign, during which he was predominantly recovering from growth-related injuries, Stefan Bajčetić moved on loan to RB Salzburg last summer. However, that spell didn’t work out for several reasons, including the departure of Pep Lijnders, the coach who was part of the Jürgen Klopp management team when the player grew in reckoning in the 2022/23 season.

The Spaniard then secured a second loan move to Las Palmas in January. The 20-year-old was a regular starter for the La Liga side (that got relegated) in the second half of the 2024/25 campaign, playing 969 league minutes in the process.

A few days ago, Bajčetić underwent surgery on his hamstring as he aims to be fit for Liverpool's pre-season in less than a month. Let’s analyse his numbers during his time at Las Palmas and try to uncover whether he can be a good sixth option in the Reds’ midfield for the upcoming season.

Firstly, we know the 20-year-old is a versatile player, capable of operating both in central midfield and as a centre-back. At Las Palmas, he featured 80% of the time in central or defensive midfield, and 19% as a centre-back in either a back four or a back three.

Below, we present a few visuals highlighting key underlying metrics for midfielders, illustrating how Bajčetić has performed compared to other U-25 midfielders in Spain during the 2024/25 season.

It is visible that Bajčetić could have done better in terms of maintaining high passing accuracy for a side that averaged 50.7% possession over the season. The other side of the story is that nearly 10% of his passes were progressive, indicating that he does attempt passes that can break lines or initiate attacks for the team. In doing so, the overall accuracy can get low, but it shouldn’t be as low as 72%.

Playing a deeper-lying midfield role meant he had to hold his position in and out of possession, hence the lack of carries. But one thing Bajčetić is good at is taking people on in tight situations and breaking the team free from the opposition press higher up the pitch. Over 2 take-ons per 90 is good going for a defensive midfielder in a generally struggling team.

Following up from the previous visual, it is clear that Bajčetić holds his position in midfield and has the majority of his touches in the middle third of the field.