No, but confidently asserting things that cannot be proven or disproven seems to be what we do here.
This is it.
Harvey is very technically gifted, but he lacks physicality, height and pace.
He is the kind of player that, if you want to get the best out of him, you need to build the team around him. He need to be flanked by physical players, who can provide what he doesnāt bring. You need physicality behind him and pace either side of him.
With respect, Harvey Elliott is not someone Liverpool FC should be building around. Florian Wirtz is at that level.
There could be a role for Elliot as a squad player backing up Flo in the number ten role. I just donāt think thatās what the lad wants out of his career, and thatās fair enough.
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I actually think he went away from his technicality (which I donāt think was ever of the highest level, by the way) and possibly focused a bit too much on adding more physicality in last years. We saw that he tried to follow Salah a with gym work, focusing on finishing, getting shots early. Questionable whether that was right for him.
I think if he would be Wirtzās direct backup on paper, heād still be here and happy to continue being here. The thing is, the reality is even harder for him than that. There are more players ahead of him. There is a slim chance heās part of the squad next season, but I donāt think he will be regardless who is the coach and he probably wants to go and play.
Elliot ended up with just shy of 150 appearances for us. All but about 2 or 3 of those was made before turning 22, and this after losing near a full season of playing time through a bad injury (which he fully recovered from). Notably though had seen a big reduction of his playing time under a new manager.
There is a big difference between accepting that the situation in he found himself at the end of last season made a move make sense for all parties and arguing that a player who just turned 22 and already had that many appearances at this level was never going to make it.
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Some people more than othersā¦
And no one has even suggested we should. He still could have seen more playing time than he actually did, even when playing a supporting role within the squad.
We saw under Klopp that he often made a difference with his energy from the bench.
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But my point is that he is always going to struggle in a team that isnāt, to some degree, built to negate his weaknesses.
Harvey is clearly at a point in his career where he doesnāt want to be a bench option, and thatās fair enough.
I remember in Kloppās years the famous shouts or half-expecations by some to change the formation from 4-3-3 to 4-2-3-1 and that the change would also benefit Elliott.
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It depends what you mean by āmake itā. If your definition is that he is around the squad, getting appearances off the bench, and the early rounds of the domestic cups, then heās already made it.
However, if āmade itā means he is a valuable first team player and starts a good number of premier league/Champions League games, then I think itās reasonable to suggest that wasnāt going to happen here.
Yet we went and bought a diminutive full back and another midfielder who isnāt particularly big.
He was barely a bench option last season, that was presumably the bigger issue for him.
Yeah, but if you are referring to Florian Wirtz, I think itās clear that he is the quality of player that you do build a team around. With the best will in the world, I donāt think Elliott has done anything to show that he is of the quality that compels you to get him in the team and use other players to cover his weaknesses.
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Personally, I rate Elliott higher than Jones. I think heās got a decent ceiling, not at Wirtz level, but certainly good enough to push into the broader England squad.
Itās hard to say this without it sounding like a criticism of Slot, but squad utilisation this season has been poor. Certain players have been overused, and you can see the fatigue. Across four competitions, there should be more than enough minutes for someone of Elliottās quality to contribute meaningfully.
You donāt want someone like Wirtz playing 90 minutes twice a week, especially around international breaks or in games like the FA Cup where rotation makes sense. To manage our best players, you need players like Elliott.
Itās no different to how Gomez has been used in defence, or even someone like Conor Bradley who is a similar age. You need reliable, high-quality players who can step in without a big drop-off.
Weāre not City weāre not going to have Ā£100m players sitting on the bench as backup . So using and keeping quality youngsters is essential.
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Harvey Elliott in 23/24: 53 appearances, 4 goals, 14 assists, 2,786 minutes.
He had already made it by your own criteria.
Squad utilization has been poor throughout his tenure, including his first season when he won the league.
Heās even admitted that he needs to rotate more, but he still manages as if heās in the Netherlands and only 14 players of his squad are good enough.
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Yeah he went backwards a bit in 23/24 from the previous season in terms of starts and minutes with the retooling of the midfield. But despite that considerable expenditure and strengthening he still ended up with 34 appearances in the league with 11 starts. To get that level of use despite not turning 21 until late in the season is very very rare. Of course as he ages and develops heās going to want to get more, but his use already at that age by any measure marked him as an important player already
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