Liverpool and Harvey Elliott’s conundrum over his future

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As the camera focused on Trent Alexander-Arnold while he was preparing to come on against Leicester City, standing next to him was another player whose future at Liverpool is far from clear.

Harvey Elliott entered the pitch as a substitute for the 19th time this season as head coach Arne Slot looked for inspiration off the bench – but that has been far from frequent.

It was the 22-year-old’s 23rd appearance in all competitions. He is close to going through the entire Premier League campaign without starting once. He has had four starts, once in the Carabao Cup, twice in the FA Cup, and once in the Champions League.

Understandably, there is a growing conversation among supporters about the midfielder’s future and what it holds for him beyond the remaining matches of this campaign.

In January, Elliott made his thoughts very clear after suggestions Liverpool would be open to offers for him.

“I’m not leaving,” he told Amazon Prime in a post-match interview after scoring the winner against Lille in the Champions League. “This is my team. This is my club. I’m a massive fan and we’re in a great position so far this season.”

Elliott has started infrequently (Dan Mullan/Getty Images)

Elliott made a significant impact from the bench in that game. Three days earlier, he did the same in the 2-0 win over Brentford, playing a key role in the build-up to both goals.

“Liverpool is my club, Liverpool is my team,” he told reporters after the Brentford win. “I want to fight for my place and my position in the team. I’ll do what it takes, as much as I can to help the team out when possible. It’s down to me to make that achievable. I won’t give up, I’ll keep fighting, and who knows what will happen.”

Elliott has never hidden that he is a Liverpool supporter. He savours every moment. No matter how many minutes he plays in home games, he is always one of the last to leave the Anfield pitch, making sure to clap all sides of the stadium.

This makes his situation slightly more unique. A player coming off a season where their playing time has been significantly reduced would usually be looking for the exit. That is not the case for Elliott, and neither are Liverpool seemingly looking to push him out the door. He is a highly valued member of the squad and also qualifies as part of the homegrown quota which they need to consider with the expectation that defender Trent Alexander-Arnold will depart in the summer.

There is no secret, however, that it is not how Elliott envisioned this season going. Towards the end of last season, Jurgen Klopp admitted one of his regrets was not playing the youngster more in the days after he scored in Liverpool’s 4-2 victory over Tottenham.

He actually made the joint-second-most appearances in 2023-24, with 51, alongside Cody Gakpo. Only Darwin Nunez (53) featured more often. However, he was not a regular starter under Klopp, naming him in his starting XI on 27 occasions. It is why he only had the ninth-highest minutes played total (2,800) in the squad.

He earned the label ‘super sub’ among supporters because of his consistent impact off the bench. Frequently, he was one of the first players the former Liverpool manager would turn to if the team were searching for a breakthrough or winning goal. He finished the campaign with four goals and 11 assists.

Slot has not followed his predecessor’s train of thought, instead going in the opposite direction. Elliott would need to play a large portion of the final five league games to surpass 1,000 minutes in all competitions — he sits on 651 currently.

This felt like the season when Elliott could kick on to another level, especially with Slot’s system using a No 10 rather than two No 8s. Pre-season only strengthened that thought, with the midfielder impressing after being used prominently — his scooped assist against Arsenal was a particular highlight.

Any momentum, though, was quickly derailed when a fracture in his foot picked up after the first three games of the season ruled him out for nearly three months. By the time he returned, Liverpool were in full flow and both Dominik Szoboszlai and Curtis Jones were favoured in the advanced midfield role.

Slot, who does not regularly rotate his starting XI, seemed to have settled on a group of players that he has routinely used since November. They were winning consistently and have continued to do so. Coaches often become reluctant to change and disrupt momentum, even when some have looked tired in recent months. Elliott and summer signing Federico Chiesa both missed the early months of the season and have not had the opportunity to force their way into the manager’s thinking from the start.

The head coach spoke in a recent press conference about the impact an absence of two or three months can have on a player at any age in the Premier League. When you’re not a guaranteed starter when fit, it makes building rhythm even trickier as a player seeks to return to their top level.

An injury-free start to the campaign could have made a significant difference to Elliott’s fortunes this season. He was available for the opening three games but was a late substitute once and unused twice.

Slot sees Elliott as someone who can play out wide or in the advanced midfield role. Nobody is removing Mohamed Salah from the right, while Dominik Szoboszlai has become Slot’s preferred choice in that No 10 role. While the Hungary international’s goal contributions remain a work in progress, his athleticism and work rate out of possession have regularly been praised by his head coach.

Development is possible, but two of the traits Elliott lacks cannot really be worked on — pace and height. When you compare the physical profiles of Szoboszlai and Jones to Elliott, there is a significant difference.

Elliott has tried to channel any frustrations he has felt this season positively and has sought out Slot to understand what he needs to do to earn more minutes. When discussing his future after the Brentford game, Elliott was asked about what areas of his game he is trying to improve to change that.

“Physically,” he said. “If you look at the team now and the sprint distances we are doing, the constant running around is something I can do, but I feel like I can improve it a little bit more.

“We have players in the team who are unbelievable at it. Dom (Szoboszlai), Curtis (Jones), people like that, constantly pressing, constantly running around. It is something that I can do, but I need to get into a rhythm of doing it and making it effective. Not just doing it for the sake of doing it. I’ll work as hard as I can on it.”

There is clearly a role for Elliott to play at Liverpool. Take the last six Premier League matches. Elliott has come on from the bench in three of them — the 3-1 victory over Southampton, the 3-2 defeat to Fulham and the most recent win against Leicester. All of those games have one thing in common: Liverpool were not winning when the midfielder was introduced and he made an impact in all three.

In the other three games, victories against Newcastle (2-0), Everton (1-0) and West Ham (2-1), Liverpool were in the lead entering the final 30 minutes of the match.

Slot with Elliott after the game against PSG (Franck Fife/AFP via Getty Images)

Outside of the Premier League, he also scored the winning goal in the Champions League last-16 first leg against Paris Saint-Germain with his first touch, and provided the assist for Chiesa’s Carabao Cup final goal in the defeat to Newcastle.

Under the more controlled and methodical system deployed by Slot, Liverpool have often found themselves in front heading into the final stages of matches. That works to Elliott’s disadvantage as Slot’s changes are more focused on retaining the lead than unlocking a defence.

In the aftermath of the Carabao Cup final, Slot was asked about the lack of minutes for Elliott and Chiesa in his Everton pre-match press conference. His response felt fairly telling about their status in the squad.

“It is not to say that if you don’t play someone, you don’t trust them,” he said. “I do, but probably I find the other ones a bit better, otherwise I would make a different choice, or they fit better in the team.”

Due to how long he has been around the senior squad, his age can often be forgotten. He has made 142 appearances for the club, yet his peak years remain a few seasons away.

The question is whether he will be happy to remain in this role for the foreseeable future as he continues to try to adapt his game to be considered for a starting role more often by Slot.

Should Liverpool add another versatile midfielder in the summer, that could further knock Elliott down the pecking order and cast further doubt on his long-term prospects.

When the Premier League title is sealed, the usage of Elliott will be worth monitoring. With the main objective complete, it should allow Slot more freedom with his team selection to experiment and assess those who have lacked game time.

If Elliott remains on the bench, then it will only fuel the discussion further.

(Top photo: Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)

This news was originally published on this post .

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