As Jurgen Klopp’s swansong, he hoisted Liverpool into one final Premier League title race, finishing third behind Arsenal and Manchester City, and lifted the Carabao Cup.
The last trophy he brought back to Anfield came courtesy of ‘Klopp’s Kids’ — a unit of youngsters that took to the pitch in Wembley cameos and secured victory against Chelsea — and was, undoubtedly, one of the German’s finest feats as manager of the Reds.
Liverpool, back then, were different. Stefan Bajcetic drawing the curtain on an injury-plagued, but once highly-anticipated Reds career, proves it. And it could be a long journey back to the summit.
Bajcetic leaving Liverpool should remind fans how deep the rot spread under Arne Slot, and how much work rests on Andoni Iraola’s shoulders
'But he was injured! That’s nobody’s fault,' some might claim. But it isn’t Bajcetic’s departure in total isolation that should sting, it’s what his exit should remind Liverpool fans of. And that is the sheer number of developing talents that have been discarded, loaned, sold, and forgotten about since Klopp’s time on Merseyside.
From future club captain Trent Alexander-Arnold choosing Real Madrid — after the Reds lifted their first Premier League title in front of fans for 35 years, no less — to Harvey Elliot’s recent La Liga loan departure. After a torrid year at Aston Villa, the look on the Englishman’s face as he fielded questions from the Valencia media was… not pleasant to witness.
Young players once deemed to be Liverpool’s future, talents that the German was able to extract the very best from, have gone from a Carabao Cup-winning unit, and making reliable cameo appearances in both European competitions and the Premier League, to being spread around here, there and everywhere.
Instead, the Reds have spent big in their two previous transfer windows - their total expenditure on attackers alone exceeds £500 million - and lost the heart and soul that made Klopp’s reign so special, and so successful.
Is it a surprise that Slot was able to win a Premier League title? He inherited a team whose muscles and minds had been ruthlessly shaped by the German — one that also included a career-best and still-hungry Mohamed Salah — and rode that wave to English top-flight glory.
But, depressingly, the cost of that victory has likely set Liverpool back by years. To win it, Slot decided against using the German’s youngsters in any meaningful capacity, going full-throttle on extracting the last dregs of mentality and fitness that had been instilled in the core Reds by Klopp.
But a once wise decision — or at least one that felt wise, at the time — continued into the 2025-26 season, and questions surrounding Liverpool’s mentality quickly surfaced. When Reds legend Salah told the press last December that he felt he was being forced out of the club, tensions reached their boiling point.
If the club’s hierarchy could make an all-time superstar feel this way, an individual that had lifted Liverpool onto his shoulders and dragged them to the previous term’s Premier League-winning finish line, how was it making ‘Klopp’s Kids’ feel, behind the scenes?
Jarell Quansah? A lacklustre game to start the season versus Ipswich Town in 2024-25, and few opportunities after. Now, he’s at Bayer Leverkusen, and receiving England call-ups. Bobby Clark? He once ran riot for the Reds during their Europa League campaign in 2023-24. Now, he’s at Derby County, with three goal involvements in his first four Championship matches this term.
Jayden Danns? A scouser through-and-through, one who bagged twice versus Southampton in the FA Cup, no less, during Klopp’s swansong season. He’s back in the Liverpool Under-21s, and last appeared for the first team 12 months ago, again versus Southampton — for 15 minutes.
James McConnell? He’s in the Under-21s, too. And, finally, Bajcetic, who appeared in 27 games across the German’s final two seasons at the helm, even delivering a Man of the Match-worthy performance in 2023’s Merseyside derby at Anfield?
He’s gone, and wrote today on Instagram: “I never planned to write a goodbye message, because I was where I always wanted to be.
“I fought all the injuries and adversities with the motivation of paying back the love and trust you showed me… We will never know what could have been.”
And perhaps the Spaniard is a slightly different case — a talent thwarted by injuries, and dealt an unfair hand throughout his Premier League career.
But maybe seeing his fellow Carabao Cup-winning youngsters be loaned elsewhere, and denied first-team minutes, witnessing the standards drop on Merseyside, weaker training sessions, weaker performances, weaker mentality, weaker leadership, all in the aftermath of Klopp’s departure… perhaps that also played a role in Bajcetic’s recovery, or lack thereof.
Under the German, Liverpool became a family. Under his successor, that family became estranged. Can Iraola turn back the clock? That remains to be seen, but the damage cannot be reversed. As the saying goes, it’s all up from here — but is it? Let's hope so.
