From Austria: Suspicions of Lijnders favouritism to Bajcetic and Clark after Liverpool arrives

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A couple of days ago, we covered a report from Austria which revealed Stefan Bajcetic had received a Red Bull Salzburg fine this week ahead of the match against Brest.

The Liverpool youngster, who is in Salzburg on loan for the current season, had been late for a training session after he couldn’t find his boots. It was treated rather lightheartedly by the Austrian media rather than presented as criticism of a player who is lacking discipline.

Bajcetic had started in all three of his appearances for Red Bull Salzburg since arriving on loan, but was only a substitute on Wednesday evening. The 19-year-old couldn’t do much with the 13 minutes he did get, with Brest already 4-0 ahead.

The Spaniard wasn’t the only player to move from Liverpool to Red Bull Salzburg in the summer, with Bobby Clark, also 19, making the switch in a permanent deal.

Austrian newspaper Kronen Zeitung today report that both arrived with a lot of hype attached and both have so far failed to live up to it.

Following the 4-0 loss, right-back Amar Dedic suggested there’s issues which led to the embarrassing defeat, quoted as saying: “I won't say the reasons now, but there are certainly reasons.”

Kronen Zeitung say those ‘cryptic words’ encouraged ‘wild speculation’. There’s a belief that Bajcetic and Clark ‘have not yet convinced’ but are being given prominent roles – Clark started the defeat and has five appearances – which they don’t deserve yet.

The report states: ‘It is reasonable to assume that there are players who see favouritism.’

Red Bull Salzburg’s manager is of course Pepijn Lijnders, who was Jurgen Klopp’s assistant at Liverpool and knows the two young midfielders well.

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