Jurgen Klopp should now be giving Harvey Elliott the chance to start regularly for Liverpool.
Elliott has been having a really good season for the Reds, establishing himself as an effective player off the bench. That continued on Saturday, with the 20-year-old firing in a crucial winner against Crystal Palace.
And speaking on The Kelly & Wrighty Show this week, pundit Ian Wright has claimed that Elliott’s impressive form should now lead to more substantial playing time.
“He gets on it, he gets himself in space,” Wright said of the youngster. “Of course, Palace had the man sent off so it was easier to get that space. But if you look at him scanning, look at him when the ball’s coming to him.
“You just want to see him now get a run of games because he looks like the player that controls games. He gets on it and he’s very controlled in what he’s doing.
“He’s added goals to his game now. Now you just want to see consistent performances, for him to be playing regularly so he can be that main player in that midfield, because I don’t think that anybody’s really nailed anything down.”
Wright calls for Elliott role
It’s true that Elliott has perhaps done enough to show that he is ready to start games for Liverpool.
Although he’s only begun one match in the Premier League so far this season, the England U21 international has been one of the Reds’ better performers in 2023/24.
It says a lot that despite that single start, Klopp has brought Harvey on in a further 12 games in the Premier League. When things aren’t going as planned, the manager usually turns to Elliott.
As a young player, Liverpool’s No.19 is probably still just about okay with this for now. It’s better to be getting game time in any way possible than not be getting it at all.
However, there’ll come a point when Harvey is surely pushing to be on the team sheet more regularly. He’d probably start for most other top division sides and that will be in his mind.
From our point of view, there’s merits to both points of view at the moment. On the one hand, Elliott is doing brilliantly with the time he’s given and could reasonably claim that he deserves more starts. When you’re getting comparisons with Lionel Messi, you’ve every right to pleased with yourself.
On the other, the former Fulham prospect has actually looked better when coming on midway through games. He’s started plenty in the cup competitions and hasn’t always sparkled in quite the same way.
As a result, given his age, we’re happy with the role Elliott is currently carving out for himself. There’s no need to disrupt that just yet. If he can keep it up though, there’ll pretty soon come a time that Jurgen can no longer ignore his ‘little diamond.’
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