How do you know when a player has what it takes to reach the level of the elites?
What qualities do they show and what does it take for them to cement their name in football folklore?
Different players enter this category for their own reasons. But more often than not they possess mutual, elite level, qualities for all to see on the pitch and especially when they’re off it.
Stewart Downing, a former Red, has claimed that by playing with Harvey Elliott, he knows that the Liverpool ace is destined for great things.
Speaking exclusively to us here at the Redmen TV, Downing said of Elliott “He has that belief, that bit of arrogance. Not arrogance in a way that people don’t like, he’s just confident in his ability.”
The boyhood red has displayed this elite mentality already in his short time on Merseyside. The 18-year-old has already had quite an eventful professional career, having a successful spell with Blackburn Rovers (where he played with Downing) when Liverpool sent him out on loan. But what is it about Elliott that makes him so special?
“When you see him live, his body movement, his feet… he didn’t play like a 17-year-old, he was more mature, he understands the game. You see a lot of 17-year-olds just sort of running, but he understands where to be, where not to be and I think he’s obviously been coached very well at Fulham and then with Jurgen.”
In specifics, it’s his footballing instinct that make Harvey stand out. His positioning. His awareness. His ability to finish. His confidence in passing. His passion for the game. His tricks. His hair. His smile. His waves. His Instagram posts.
All of these, bar a couple, display the lad’s ambition and ability to become one of the best in the world.
All of this combined into one young player equals ‘it’, ‘the X-factor’, the self-belief that separates ordinary professional footballers from the elite classes, and Downing too believes Elliott has ‘it’.
“Suarez had it, he believed he could beat any defender. If you look at Ronaldo, he definitely has it. Messi I think too. Steven [Gerrard], at the time, when he was probably the top midfielder in the world, he definitely had the self-belief that he was the best. You have to. I don’t know how you can play at that level and not have the belief that you are the best player.”
Some players may have been nervous to kick into fifth gear on their first day back from a frightful ankle break injury, but not players of Elliott’s quality.
Every second on the pitch matters and every second is an opportunity to make a difference, and that thinking is evident when you watch the lad with a football. Hailed consistently by Jurgen Klopp, Elliott’s manager claimed that “he was patient coming back and he’s still a fearless boy and a great footballer,”.
Just look at his precision in front of goal against Cardiff. His first game after five months due to the injury at Leeds, Elliott wasted no time in making a difference and sent Liverpool comfortably through to the next round of the FA Cup with, in his own words “Liverpool shirt on. Kop end. On the volley into the bottom corner. An absolute dream come true”.
Let’s hope the Harvey Elliott we’ve seen grow so much, can continue his impressive form and give Liverpool fans and himself the confidence of having a bright future ahead.
