Harvey Elliott is searingly honest. That stems from dad Scott, his toughest critic, who hardened up the young Elliott by pulling him up on any mistakes and putting him on an intense hill-climbing strength programme.
It also stems from Jurgen Klopp’s tough love and, most recently, the frankness of Arne Slot’s criticism.
So nobody has needed to point out to Elliott just how low down the Liverpool pecking order he is right now. Nobody has needed to spell out how important a move away from Anfield is for him this summer.
‘I am at an age where I want to cement my place in the team and be playing week in and week out — and it is not going to just come for me,’ Elliott conceded this time last summer in Philadelphia on Liverpool’s pre-season tour.
‘It’s just to make it more about myself and be a bit more selfish in certain ways, but I have that team spirit in me. I will never lose that.
‘I want to play for the team and the badge, I love the club. But in certain situations, I need to think about myself more.’
Harvey Elliott’s brilliant brace fired England into the Under 21 European Championship final
Elliott’s honesty stems from dad Scott, who hardened him up by pulling him up on any mistakes
The 22-year-old struggled for gametime last season in Arne Slot’s first season at Liverpool
Fast forward to the media day at St George’s Park ahead of the Under 21 Euros, following a season during which Elliott made just two league starts, against Chelsea and Brighton, both after Liverpool had already won the league — and he made another frank admission.
‘I’m coming to an age now where I’m 22 and I don’t really want to be wasting years of my career, because it’s a short career,’ he said.
He is not short of suitors. Brighton and West Ham are keen, as are RB Leipzig in Germany.
Liverpool would want an offer of at least £40million to consider selling him — and that price will only go up as Elliott continues to thrive for England in Slovakia.
Mail Sport understands that while Slot was initially impressed with Elliott during pre-season, he was less pleased by his levels in training following a two-month absence with a foot injury.
And after a summer spending spree which has seen more than £200m splashed out on Florian Wirtz, signed for £116m to play in Elliott’s favoured No 10 position, along with Jeremie Frimpong, Milos Kerkez, Giorgi Mamardashvili and young keeper Armin Pecsi, there is little resistance to Elliott leaving.
He is considered fourth in line for the No 10 role now behind Wirtz, Dominik Szoboszlai, and Curtis Jones; he is not considered physical enough to play in a deeper role; Mohamed Salah and Federico Chiesa are the right-wing options; Luis Diaz and Cody Gakpo are the preferred left-wing options.
While Elliott is living the dream at Anfield after his boyhood club paid £4.3m in compensation to prise him away from Fulham in 2019, he risks finding himself airbrushed out.
Mail Sport understands Slot was less pleased by his levels in training after his foot injury
Elliott is popular among Reds fans after 147 games for the club, and an eventual exit will sting
Elliott is popular among Reds supporters after 147 games for the club, and an eventual exit, which many believe will be in the coming weeks, will sting.
On the pitch after the final game, he buried his head in dad Scott’s chest in floods of tears.
The question now is whether an Elliott departure would draw parallels with that of Cole Palmer from Manchester City, a player who was ahead of Elliott in the pecking order two years ago when England’s Under 21s won the Euros in Georgia.
A few weeks later, Manchester lad Palmer was draped in Chelsea blue, and ever since his career has skyrocketed.
‘I love the kid, he plays football the right way. I am excited for his future,’ former Liverpool and Chelsea star Joe Cole said of Elliott after his match-winning brace to fire England’s Under 21s into tomorrow’s final against Germany.
‘Any team outside the top six, he comfortably walks into, and then after two years at that level, he comes back to Liverpool’s level and competes.’
Liverpool saw off interest from Barcelona, Borussia Dortmund and Manchester City, among others, to land him.
And had things turned out differently for Elliott, he may well have played alongside the player to whom Cole likened him in Bratislava.
Liverpool saw off interest from Barcelona, Dortmund and Man City, among others, to land Elliott
‘That second goal, if (Lionel) Messi did that the world would be stopping,’ said Cole.
‘He has this ability and the frustrating thing is he could do it on a consistent basis if he played regularly.
‘His problem is he can do so many good things. He’s a victim of his own skills.’
As Elliott struggles to nail down a place in the Liverpool team, he knows he might have to move on. The Reds must just hope his exit does not come back to haunt them, like Palmer’s still haunts City.
