Klopp makes eight player decisions to suggest Liverpool rebuild already underway

The confirmation that this is no ordinary Liverpool slump came with Jurgen Klopp's teamsheet against Chelsea last weekend, not that there have been many slumps under his tenure of course.

In leaving the likes of Joel Matip, Jordan Henderson and Fabinho out of the starting XI there was a tacit suggestion from the Liverpool manager that all is not well, and that major changes are needed.

In came Joe Gomez, Naby Keita and most intriguingly of all Stefan Bajcetic, the latter fresh from a stellar performance in the FA Cup win at Wolves and in for his first Premier League start.

And he did well, about as well as it was possible for anyone to do in such a disjointed game that left no-one in any doubt about the state of flux that is currently surrounding both clubs.

New, expensive faces may be appearing at Chelsea every five minutes, but at Liverpool there is already a sense of the long game being played, and even perhaps of this season being written off as merely an audition for who will be along for the ride in the years to come.

Klopp has three more of those on his contract, and his words this week indicate he is planning accordingly.

"It's a challenge, it is one of the main reasons I signed the new contract because I knew it [a rebuild] is necessary and will not go [away] overnight - imagine the situation now with another coach in the chair," Klopp told Michael Calvin's Football People podcast.

"I would be somewhere on holiday and everyone would shout my name. Throughout the problems you have in a transition period we have an awful lot of injuries, which makes life really complicated.

"I know the majority of the world is just interested in the short term but we have to be long-term focused as well."

Bajcetic could well be that for Liverpool, with the poise and precision he has shown both in a deeper midfield role and an attacking one - such as when he scored a fine goal against Aston Villa on Boxing Day - indicating that he has plenty of gifts.

The Spanish youngster of Serbian heritage - whose father played with Thiago Alcantara's Brazilian World Cup winning dad in Spain - is now set for a new contract at Liverpool to reflect his growing proximity to the status of first-team regular, something Klopp has indicated he could well be soon enough.

The poor form of Fabinho and Henderson is a large reason for that, but Bajcetic's talent is the more compelling one, and a new deal for the 18-year-old would add a sense of freshness and new dawn to a club that needs it.

Elsewhere in the Liverpool week, the Reds have recalled defender Rhys Williams from his loan spell at Blackpool, his second such stint after he was parachuted into the team in the injury-hit 2020-21 season and given 19 games, several of them coming on a knife-edge at the end of the campaign.

Williams played 17 times at Blackpool, and the 21-year-old's return is largely expected to mean that Nat Phillips - who will be 26 in March, and was Williams' defensive partner as the unlikely lads upon 2021's third place finish was built - will finally be allowed to leave to get first-team football elsewhere.

Like Phillips, Williams probably won't be seen all that much for Liverpool until the end of the season, but his presence at the club over the older man does make sense given what is unfolding.

Similarly, it has been notable that Liverpool have also recalled five more of their youngsters from loans in the past month, with Owen Beck (Bolton), James Balagizi (Crawley), Fidel O'Rourke (Caernarfon Town), Max Woltman (Doncaster), Billy Koumetio (Austria Vienna) and Jakub Ojrzynski (Radomiak Radom) all returning to Kirkby.

Again, none of those are likely to be thrust into the first-team picture, although Williams and goalkeeper Ojrzynski did train with them on Wednesday, while Phillips and Adrian notably didn't.

More likely is that Klopp and his coaching staff want to have a look at just what they have on their hands before more potential loan moves or chances in the years to come.

It all hints at a Liverpool that is getting younger, something that has needed to happen for some time.