Don't Forget About Harvey Elliott

Harvey Elliott provided Liverpool supporters with a timely reminder of his quality against Tottenham Hotspur.

Harvey Elliott provided us with our routine reminder of his quality on Sunday afternoon. Every 500 minutes or so, the Liverpool wonderkid seems to grab the headlines by doing something meaningful on the pitch, almost as his way of telling us not to forget about him.

He starts to drift into the background. Maybe we start to roll our eyes a little bit when we notice that he’s been presented with a start. And then boom, he scores a last-minute winner. Boom, he changes the course of a match by making an impact from the bench. Boom, he scores a goal from 30 yards.

We witnessed the latter against Tottenham Hotspur over the weekend. And we also saw Elliott register an assist earlier in the bout, having later been named as the Man of the Match by Sky Sports.

Elliott was really good against Spurs, and it feels like a matter of time before he makes The Leap ™ on Merseyside. Whatever happens without Jürgen Klopp at the helm, we need to make sure there’s always space somewhere in the squad for this guy.

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The Englishman first popped up on my radar during his time on loan at Blackburn Rovers. Every now and then, I’d dedicate a small segment of my podcast to him because in the numbers, he was offering real promise as a teenager.

The Championship is your signature man’s competition. You have to play 46 matches compared to just 38 in the Premier League, the pitches aren’t quite as perfect, the ball spends a bit more time in the sky, and Neil Warnock is basically Pep Guardiola.

If you’re a promising youngster who needs more minutes, the Championship is your go-to destination for a season-long loan spell. If you’re good enough, you’ll shine regardless of the landscape surrounding you. If you're only half baked, though, you’ll get eaten alive.

Elliott passed his acid test with flying colours at Ewood Park. Aged just 17 (!!) he amassed 2,753 minutes in the Championship. He appeared in 41 of Blackburn’s 46 matches — starting 31 of them — and scored seven goals while registering 11 assists.

Only seven players in the division posted more non-penalty scoring returns than his total of 18, with the youngest of them being a 22-year-old version of Dominic Solanke, who was still five years older than Elliott.

Michael Olise was aged 18 at the time, and he was representing Reading in the same league. The current Crystal Palace forward played about 500 minutes more than Elliott for a team that ranked eight places higher in the table, yet he posted one fewer non-penalty scoring return on 17.

Olise is left footed, homegrown, creative and youthful. Guess what? So is Elliott. And the Eagles attacker is tipped for a big-money transfer move in the near future. Elliott, by contrast, is mostly an afterthought on Merseyside.

In that Championship campaign, only Norwich City’s Emi Buendia — who is now representing Aston Villa — found the penalty box with passes more often than Elliott, who accumulated a total of 72 for the season. His per-90 numbers for ball progression are captured below.

Remember, he was just 17 years old and effectively on work experience here.

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Elliott was quite clearly too good for that competition. It was similar for Chelsea’s Reece James when he explored the lower leagues with Wigan Athletic, and Conor Bradley at Bolton Wanderers, too.

Since, the Reds talent has been trying to break into the starting lineup at Anfield. He’s developed a bit of an unwanted reputation for being a super sub so far, but it’s clear that his end goal is to become a consistent starter for Liverpool.

Luckily for him, he’s got the make-up to do exactly that at some point under the new manager, likely Arne Slot, who I wrote about here. Elliott offers a whole host of perks, both with and without the ball.

In possession, he’s still doing lots of what he did for Blackburn. I watched Liverpool’s 4-2 win over Spurs next to a stranger on the weekend, and I was surprised by how often he moaned about Elliott passing backwards too often.

This guy makes good decisions in possession, and he’s absolutely fine when it comes to moving the ball into dangerous spaces, despite what the angry supporter beside you might argue.

Elliott ranks 12th in the Premier League for progressive passes on a per-90 basis this term, and fourth for passes into the penalty box. His numbers beat those posted by Dominik Szoboszlai, Ryan Gravenberch and Alexis Mac Allister, for example.

You know he’s creative. You know his technique is great. And you know he can thrive in tight spaces. Elliott has a lot going for him on the attacking side of the game, and he does his fair share against the ball, too.

The Reds starlet regained the ball in the final third on several occasions against Spurs, with Liverpool generating shots on the back of those moments and even scoring from one of them through Cody Gakpo’s header.

Elliott places eighth in the Premier League among all players with at least 900 minutes for pressures per 90 — adjusted for possession — and he ranks tenth for counterpressures per 90, too.

He might not be the quickest, but he wants to be proactive on the defensive side of the game. It’s not ideal that Elliott isn’t tall or particularly fast — which also hinders his recovery pace — but the same goes for one of the best players in England this season.

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I’ve said this on quite a few podcasts over the past year, but I think Martin Ødegaard should be the template here. The Arsenal skipper is absolutely essential to Mikel Arteta’s outfit, and that’s without him being especially physical.

He’s four years older than Elliott, but he really isn’t that different upon inspection of his profile. Both of them are technical, left footed, creative, smart and relatively slight. They both play on the right of a midfield three more often than not, and they both like to shoot more than your typical midfielder.

Ødegaard has pretty much evolved into Arsenal’s conductor in the final third, both with and without possession. He glues everything together with healthy decisions and the sharpest touches. Creative, but sensible. Offensive, but careful. Elliott should be studying this guy.

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I’m not sure when Elliott will make The Leap ™ like Ødegaard. He’ll transform from a caterpillar into a butterfly soon. It just feels like a matter of when rather than if.

When he does eventually grab the shirt and keep hold of it, the current version of Ødegaard is the utopia that I imagine. There’s also shades of Jack Grealish at Aston Villa in there, or Mason Mount at his very best for Chelsea.

Elliott is still only 21 years old. He’s been around for ages, yet he’s still only a baby in footballing terms. Cole Palmer is older than him. Phil Foden? Yeah, he’s older, too. Jarrel Quansah? Older. Jarrad Branthwaite? Older.

He’ll likely continue to float around the most important 20 players at Liverpool under the next manager, but gradually, without us even noticing, he’ll start to climb the pecking order until he reaches a point whereby he’s starting every week, and we’re worried when he’s absent.

He’s not a star yet, but don’t make the mistake of forgetting about him. I’m looking forward to the next periodic reminder of his quality.