Harvey Elliott is 21 years old, which is hard to grasp given he is in his seventh season of senior professional football.
After all, the England U21 international was a senior pro when he was 15—too early, one would say. But one would also say “if you’re good enough, you’re old enough.”
Sure enough, the promise has always been visible with Elliott, but he’s yet to reach the dizzying heights he’s been expected over for already over half a decade.
This month, Elliott has been linked with Brighton and Hove Albion and Borussia Dortmund. With his career seemingly having arrived at a crossroads, how should Liverpool manoeuvre through this situation?
it would be reasonable to say that Elliott’s early start has only gone on to add pressure he could do without, though it’s pressure all too familiar to players aspiring to reach to the top.
Doesn’t get any easier, though, and so it has proved so far with Elliott. In particular, what has also not helped is his injury record. In the 2021/22 season, he dislocated his ankle and that sidelined him for over six months. This season, too, he has been nursing a fractured foot.
Injuries like these are often, in isolation, capable of ending a career outright if not significantly hinder a player’s progress for the remainder of their playing days. Elliott’s early start already made him a player whose minutes needed to be managed properly; the injuries have only made him a player that needs more attention and sophistication.
The question Liverpool need to ask themselves is whether they are willing to put in this work, and if they believe Elliott to be a player worthy of their effort. His stylistic fit under Arne Slot is not an issue. He’s a versatile operator capable of playing both centrally and out wide—be it in the front line or a bit deeper in midfield. If he can remain fit and get minutes on the pitch, sky’s the limit for the young Englishman.
The likes of Brighton and Dortmund do not take interest in young players for nothing. Most times these teams nurture the players to the point that they become too good for them and then move them on for huge profits; if they can’t manage that, the players often turn out to be good enough for their first teams.
As far as Liverpool are concerned, they have examples in front of them of players who made their senior debuts very young, felt like they were drifting away from a while, but have come back strongly and are regarded one of the best in the business. Martin Ødegaard, moving to Real Madrid at the age of 16, took well over five years to establish himself as a high-level operator at Real Sociedad. Alexander Isak was 16 when he started playing for AIK’s senior team out in Sweden, and incidentally it was at Real Socieded where the now-25-year-old properly found his feet and is now one of the Premier League’s finest strikers as he plies his trade for Newcastle United.
Liverpool can also take the example Amad Diallo at Manchester United, who arrived from Atalanta with great promise, went out on loan for couple seasons, and has now made himself un-droppable at Old Trafford. Elliott too has been out on loan once and showed promise. If the Reds cannot manage to find a first-team spot for him at the moment, loaning him out won’t the worst of ideas.
Liverpool did not spend too much money to bring Elliott to Anfield. They can afford to keep him around for a couple more years before moving him on permanently. Elliott has enough promise to be able to find himself a new club if things ultimately don’t work out for him in Merseyside.
