Liverpool youngster Harvey Elliott has a chance of earning himself an England call-up tomorrow.
That’s according to Sky Sports journalist Rob Dorsett. Speaking ahead of Gareth Southgate’s squad announcement on Thursday, Dorsett claimed that the Liverpool midfielder may be in-line for a surprise inclusion.
“There are names that haven’t been in there that could be and would be really interesting to see. Liverpool’s Harvey Elliott is the most obvious one. Southgate isn’t blessed with an awful lot of resources in midfield. The form that he’s in, the versatility he offers in that he can play wide or in the middle. The goalscoring ability he has makes him a real option,” he said.
“A lot of England’s midfield options tend to be defensive. You look at Kalvin Phillips, Declan Rice and even Henderson as well, they’re all by nature defensive midfield players. Harvey Elliott is the opposite, he’s an offensive midfield player, so I think he’s got a shot.”
Dorsett did however suggest that Southgate may also have an alternative plan for Elliott.
“He’s with the U21s at the moment,” said the journalist. “It may well be that Southgate leaves him there with the idea of calling him up if there are any injuries in this weekend’s round of matches.”
Elliott still settling in to first-team life
We’ve certainly seen players called up having done less than Elliott has this season at Liverpool.
Despite that, it would still seem too early to bring him in to the senior set-up. He may have started Liverpool’s last seven games, but he’s only played 29 times for the club in total.
That’s supplemented by a full year on-loan at Blackburn Rovers, so it isn’t as though Elliott’s completely green.
But still, his development at Liverpool is an ongoing process. We’ve seen over recent weeks that the 19-year-old is coming to terms with being a full senior player at the top level. That isn’t an instant thing.
His performances have been good, but there’s still so much more he can do. At this stage, Elliott would perhaps benefit more from being afforded time away from the full glare of the national spotlight.
Regardless, with a World Cup less than two months away, it seems unlikely that Southgate would choose now to start blooding youngsters anyway.
The England manager is notoriously cautious with his team selections. As Dorsett points out, he prefers to choose a raft of more defensive-minded midfielders.
As a result of that, Elliott may miss out. Of course, it would be a brilliant moment for the teenager if he were to be rewarded with a full call-up. But for now, we won’t be holding our breath. And maybe that’s for the best.
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