What does the longer term maintain for Euro Beneath-21 star Harvey Elliott?
On the European Beneath-21 Championship in Slovakia, Harvey Elliott has emerged as England’s most decisive participant within the knockout levels. With 4 objectives within the match, the 22-year-old Liverpool midfielder has delivered standout performances, together with scoring England’s second objective within the 3-1 quarter-final victory over Spain and netting twice within the semi-final win over the Netherlands. His kind has performed a significant function in guiding England to the ultimate towards Germany, positioning him as a robust candidate for the player-of-the-tournament award.
Regardless of his worldwide success, Elliott returns to Merseyside with uncertainty surrounding his membership future. In the course of the previous season at Liverpool, he made 28 appearances in all competitions, however solely six have been begins. These included three home cup begins, one within the Champions League after qualification had already been secured, and two within the Premier League after the title was clinched. The remainder of his appearances got here from the bench.
Although used sparingly, Elliott’s statistical profile over the previous 12 months is extremely spectacular when measured per 90 minutes. He averaged 0.66 objectives, 0.4 anticipated objectives (xG), 3.49 photographs, 0.33 assists, 0.18 anticipated assists (xA), and eight.8 progressive carries — numbers that spotlight his attacking effectiveness when given freedom within the last third. For a 22-year-old with 94 Premier League appearances, these figures recommend important promise and would usually warrant better consideration from his membership, to not point out doubtlessly draw sizeable switch curiosity from others.
Nonetheless, Elliott’s function at Liverpool stays difficult by tactical elements and positional congestion. New head coach Arne Slot has but to discover a clear place for him within the crew. Elliott is able to taking part in for granted winger, a No10, or a No8, however none of these roles is easy in Liverpool’s present setup. The membership doesn’t usually play with a central attacking midfielder — the standard No10 — and Elliott, whereas used on the best wing, differs drastically in fashion from the person he must displace: Mohamed Salah.
Salah stays a first-choice fixture within the beginning XI, and Elliott’s interpretation of the right-wing function is essentially totally different. Whereas Salah is direct, fast, and bodily strong, thriving in one-on-one duels and attacking house behind defenders, Elliott prefers to float infield, hyperlink play, and function extra like a traditional playmaker. His lack of explosive tempo and one-on-one dribbling makes him depending on an overlapping full again to create width — one thing he advantages from when taking part in for England, notably with Tino Livramento supporting him down the best flank.
Elliott thrives in techniques like Lee Carsley’s England U21 setup, the place he’s allowed to function within the half-spaces as a inventive drive. In such roles, he contributes power, intelligent motion, dribbling, and incisive capturing. Nonetheless, translating that into Liverpool’s fashion of play — constructed on depth, urgent, and fast transitions — is much from easy.
In midfield, which often is the solely viable different place for Elliott, bodily calls for are even larger. Liverpool’s counterpressing system depends closely on tempo, endurance, and the power to defend in transition. Even when Elliott does his defensive duties, his smaller body and decrease top-end pace make him much less suited to that setting in comparison with his teammates. It’s telling that in a January win over Brentford, wherein Elliott assisted a objective for Darwin Núñez, he got here on for Alexis Mac Allister — one of many few midfielders on the membership near Elliott in stature — but nonetheless bodily stronger and taller.
These bodily and tactical concerns have formed Liverpool’s recruitment technique in current seasons. After struggling defensively in 2022–23 when Elliott was used extra commonly in midfield, the membership overhauled their midfield choices, abandoning a transfer for Jude Bellingham and as a substitute specializing in buying gamers higher suited to the system’s calls for.
Elliott now finds himself behind a number of midfielders within the pecking order. The current arrival of Florian Wirtz, signed for a possible price of £116 million, solely provides to the congestion. Alongside Wirtz, Liverpool have already got Dominik Szoboszlai, Mac Allister, Ryan Gravenberch, and Curtis Jones competing for comparable roles. This logjam reduces Elliott’s possibilities of securing common minutes, particularly in his most popular superior positions.
Regardless of this, Elliott’s per-90 statistics recommend he has the standard to shine — maybe extra so in a unique setting. Whereas solely Premier League golf equipment are probably to have the ability to afford Liverpool’s valuation of him, his recreation could be higher suited to a league that locations much less emphasis on physicality and extra on technical play. La Liga or Serie A may provide such situations, permitting Elliott to maximise his potential and grow to be a central determine in a crew that builds its assault round his creativity.
For now, Liverpool should resolve whether or not Elliott’s expertise and numbers justify constructing a task round him, or whether or not it’s in each events’ greatest curiosity to pursue a transfer. The summer season switch window — and presumably Elliott’s personal choice — will decide whether or not he stays at Anfield or seeks the sort of tactical setting the place his qualities can flourish extra constantly.
