I’m not sure what I think about Diaz as the long term centre forward. He has done well, but there have been other times where he has been too peripheral. I think I would prefer someone to carry more physical threat.
On the other hand, that is supposed to be Darwin Nunez, and he has not taken his chance this season, hence the question marks over him.
But he never managed to nail down a starting spot and I’m putting that down to the combination of Klopp not playing with a no. 10 (or not playing him often as one of his advanced midfielders) and injuries. I’ve honestly never been a fan of Elliott playing on the right, I think he can influence a lot of games from central position - and he’s also passionate about the club, which is something you can’t buy and that’s why I’d love it if he became a top class player at Liverpool.
However, looking at Clark’s departure and possible Doak’s departure, I wonder if club are signalling a change of transfer strategy, which might mean that even Elliott is available, too, if the price was right in order to fund more “senior” signings.
I wouldn’t say it’s necessarily a change of strategy, but there are and will be new players and new kids appearing.
That’s why I’m always very careful not to get caught in the trap of this or that young player will spend a big chunk of his career here.
What Elliott accomplished here so far might end up being his ceiling at this level or at this club. Some couldn’t do that, like Harry Wilson. It’s no shame. Another one might go further than both.
Or Harvey might improve further and earn more importance in the near future, it’s still absolutely possible.
But sometimes, even if we are a “patient” club, people assessing and making these decisions, with much better knowledge than us, will act quicker even than the majority of the fanbase.
I’m a romantic - while I want every Liverpool player to succeed at Liverpool, of course I have an even greater desire for club’s kids to make it there. Elliott is not a product of Liverpool academy but he’s a Red through and through and I will hope that he will make it there until he doesn’t.
We’ll see what happens. The injury couldn’t have come at a worse time for him (it’s been something of a recurring theme with him), and he’s still very young, so he gets the benefit of the doubt. It’s a long season ahead with hopefully many opportunities to prove himself in the short-to-medium run at least.
They did want to sign Gordon in the summer - I just wonder why they didn’t think then that Kvaratskhelia was worth the fee they wanted to pay for Gordon.
And I still wonder why they wanted to sign a left winger when they already had two, who got better in the meantime, with two centre forwards who already played there. Maybe Slot fields two left wingers, so the opponents’ defences are unbalanced that way and Salah gets a free pass on the right.
Might be another situation, like Diaz, where he’s high on our list and we’re starting to hear that he might be able to move on so we get involved. As you pointed out Slot has used Diaz centrally a lot and seems to like him there.
Or maybe we want him to play on the right and he’s seen as the long term replacement for Salah
Fully agree tbh. Yeah he’s an excellent player, but we could do with reinforcing the defence atm. A lot of injury prone and/or aging players at the back.
If the price is decent get the lad, but he shouldn’t be the priority