Liverpool’s shining light this season has come in the form of Stefan Bajcetic, a Spanish teenager signed from La Liga outfit Celta Vigo’s development squad for £224k in 2020 and expected to be softly integrated into the rigorous routine of senior football.

A soft and slow entrance did not occur, and amid the stricken campaign that the Reds have been engulfed in, the 18-year-old midfielder has stepped up to the plate, largely since the conclusion of the 2022 World Cup, and outperformed and outworked his senior and established peers.

Among the most culpable stragglers: Fabinho and captain Jordan Henderson. The once energetic and enterprising aces have fallen heavily below expectations this season and their lack of robustness has been detrimental to manager Jurgen Klopp’s plans for the term.

And with Bajcetic now demonstrating the impact that can be made upon the Merseyside outfit when the youth are provided a platform to shine, Anfield’s senior manager might now turn to his formative phenoms once more, with midfielder Michael Laffey now pushing to be the next of the young crop to wedge their way into contention.

Who is Michael Laffey?

Since signing from Sunderland for £20m in 2011, Henderson has only grown into a formidable player on the scene, captaining the club to a plethora of major honours including, notably, the Premier League and Champions League.

But this season he has been lamented for his decline, with the 32-year-old even branded “woeful” by journalist Declan Carr earlier this term.

And with youthful talents such as Laffey waiting in the wings, Klopp and co might confer and unleash the new batch upon Merseyside, with the 17-year-old hailed as “outstanding” already by Jamie Carragher.

Laffey has forged 19 appearances for the Reds’ U18 outfit, scoring a goal and providing three assists, and he will be hoping that next campaign he can build upon his feats at present and earn a shot at action at the highest level.

According to This is Anfield, the industrious starlet is a “productive passer who can bite into challenges in front of the defence”, with the Liverpool-focused outlet also heralding him as a “functional” player and the “backbone” of the club’s youth system.

This level of assurance and composure would pay dividends for Liverpool over the coming years, with Henderson himself not exactly renowned for his ‘maestro’ skills on the ball.

Over the duration of his Liverpool career, the £190k-per-week ace has only scored 33 goals and created 60 assists across a mammoth 479 outings, but his career average 83.5% passing accuracy, 1.7 tackles and 1.3 interceptions per match, as per WhoScored, says all there is to know about the importance of his work.

With Laffey hoping to earn a place among the first team over the coming years, he can indeed take inspiration from the rise of Bajcetic and forge his own path, using his particular skills to mould a career in the shape of Henderson’s, another ‘productive’ passer who does the dirty worker.