Premiership: Baros set for Christmas debut for Liverpool

Liverpool striker Milan Baros could be thrown into action over the Christmas period after the club successfully won an appeal against a refusal to grant him a work permit.

A permit was granted this afternoon after a special review panel agreed that the 20-year-old Czech international’s outstanding talent exempted him from the qualifying requirement of playing 75% of internationals in the last two years.

Baros has been on loan at his former club Banik Ostrava while Liverpool sorted out the red tape surrounding his transfer, but now his work permit has been granted he can join his new team-mates.

And caretaker boss Phil Thompson revealed that he could be thrown into action immediately during the busy festive programme.

‘‘It’s absolutely fantastic news and now we are looking forward to getting Milan over here,’’ said Thompson.

‘‘We will do that as quickly as possible because we want to assess his fitness and see if he is ready to play or whether he needs more work on the training ground.

‘‘The Czech season is in its winter break at the moment so we will have to look at his fitness. It’s possible that he could be involved in our games over Christmas.’’

Thompson told the club’s website, www.liverpoolfc.tv: ‘‘He is a very talented young boy and he will be a great asset to this club for many years. He has pace, skill and plenty of goalscoring ability.

‘‘We needed to bring in an extra striker and we are very pleased to have won our appeal. The panel obviously agreed with us that he is very much a player for the future.

‘‘I am sure he will be extremely happy with today’s news. He already has two friends at the club Vladimir Smicer and Patrik Berger - and that should help him settle quickly.’’