With just eight games of the season remaining, a number of Liverpool players will feel they have not had a fair crack from Arne Slot this term.
Slot has tended to prefer fielding a small group, meaning a clutch of players have regularly been overlooked.
Out of all three cups and having only the Premier League to focus on, it feels probable that these same members of the Liverpool squad will hardly get a look in over the next six weeks.
In some instances, that is fair enough. The likes of Kostas Tsimikas, for example, have teammates rightly ahead of them in the pecking order.
But for others, such as Harvey Elliott, there will be frustration that they have not been given a chance to show what they can truly do.
Given how little he has played, it has not been a surprise to see that Liverpool could sell Elliott during the summer transfer window. But the Reds must use examples from the past to avoid making what could be a costly mistake.
Harvey Elliott is only just beginning at Liverpool
It may be hard to believe for some, but Friday brought Elliott’s 22nd birthday. He is still such an incredibly young player.
Should he be sold in the upcoming window, Liverpool will be losing out on the best year’s of Elliott’s career.
As highlighted by statistician Michael Reid on X, the No.19’s tally of 140 Liverpool appearances before the age of 22 put him joint fifth in that particular all-time list for the Reds.
For comparison, Steven Gerrard made 139 and Trent Alexander-Arnold 138 appearances by the time they were the same age as Elliott is now.
But while Gerrard and – arguably – Alexander-Arnold went on to give their prime years to the club, selling Harvey now would mean he reaches his peak elsewhere. That would be a mistake.
Looking further down this list, and Liverpool can clearly see another example of a player they sold too soon: Raheem Sterling, who played 129 times before even turning 21.
Liverpool must not repeat Raheem Sterling sale
Obviously, the situations of Sterling and Elliott were very different. Back in 2015, Sterling wanted to leave Liverpool and made sure he pushed through a sale to Manchester City. He was just 20 at the time.
Elliott is a boyhood Liverpool supporter and if he is sold this summer it will surely not be because of anything he has engineered himself.
Nevertheless, whatever the circumstances, it’s clear that City, not Liverpool, got the best of Sterling’s career. The £50m fee helped soften the blow – just as a reported £40m sale of Elliott would help the Reds reinvest this summer – but Sterling went on to become one of the best players in the Premier League for years.
Perhaps the now 30-year-old was not always appreciated, but he scored 131 goals in 339 games at City, winning four league titles and becoming a real stalwart for Pep Guardiola. Given how early in his career the stint came, Sterling’s spell at Liverpool has largely been forgotten.
There are parallels between Sterling and Elliott given how both came to the club with big reputations at a young age from elsewhere. Liverpool cannot let another be drawn by letting Harvey out of the door before he’s even truly started. They will surely come to regret it.
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