Liverpool Midfield Strategy: Youth Over Replacement

Liverpool are stripping back their midfield again – and this time, they’re doing it without a replacement lined up.

Curtis Jones has already gone, sold to Inter Milan in a deal worth £30m, and another departure from the engine room is on the way. Yet the recruitment team at Anfield are standing firm: no new holding midfielder, no late pivot in strategy.

Faith in youth over fresh faces

The debate around Liverpool’s midfield has been simmering for months. Wataru Endo is the only recognised defensive midfielder in the squad, but the 31-year-old is not viewed as a starter ahead of Ryan Gravenberch, Dominik Szoboszlai or Alexis Mac Allister.

On paper, it looked like the perfect moment to move for a specialist No 6 once Jones’ exit was sealed. Instead, Liverpool have doubled down on a different kind of gamble.

As first revealed by insider Graeme Bailey, the club have decided against adding another midfielder, choosing to elevate teenager Trey Nyoni into a more prominent role. He is now effectively fourth in the pecking order for the two central starting spots.

Szoboszlai, Gravenberch and Mac Allister will contest those starting roles. Nyoni sits behind them, with Endo pushed back as an extra layer of cover rather than a guaranteed pick.

That stance has been reinforced by The Athletic’s Liverpool correspondent James Pearce, who reports that the plan is locked in. He relayed that senior figures at the club insist the priority remains strengthening the wide attacking positions, even after the chaotic 2-2 draw with Newcastle intensified calls from supporters for midfield reinforcements.

Pearce wrote that Liverpool “don’t intend to replace Jones” because they regard Nyoni as ready to “step up and play a bigger part this season,” adding that, barring a late change of heart, only the forward line will be addressed in the market.

Bajcetic set for Celta return

Against that backdrop, the next move is even more striking. Liverpool are preparing to let another midfielder go – and this time it is a genuine defensive option.

Stefan Bajcetic, once seen as a long-term answer at the base of midfield, is heading for the exit. Injuries have torn through his progress in England, stalling the momentum that had briefly pushed him into the first-team picture.

Now 21 and entering the final year of his contract, the Spaniard is poised to return to his former club Celta Vigo in a permanent deal. Trusted reporter Matteo Moretto reports that an agreement between the clubs is already in place.

Liverpool will receive only a nominal fee, but the deal is structured with a significant sell-on clause. For the Anfield hierarchy, that clause is the real value: a bet that Bajcetic can rebuild his career in Spain and generate a meaningful return in a future transfer.

Fabrizio Romano has added that Celta and Bajcetic are close to finalising personal terms, which would clear the final obstacle to the move.

So Liverpool are set to enter the season with one senior defensive midfielder, a clutch of attack-minded No 8s, and a teenager pushed into the spotlight. If Bajcetic flourishes back in Vigo and Nyoni does the same under the Anfield lights, this will look like bold, calculated planning. If not, the questions over that midfield balance will only get louder.