Harvey Elliott made an impressive start to the season in a central midfield position, starting three of the first four games of the season for Liverpool. Unfortunately, a serious ankle injury that he picked up in the game against Leeds United saw him taken to hospital, which a long recovery ahead.
Goal.com’s Neil Jones has witnessed Elliott’s recovery first-hand at the AXA Training Centre, and there is a belief that the 18-year-old could be back to bolster Liverpool’s midfield or wide options soon.
On the latest episode of our Journo Insight Show, we asked Neil on the chances of seeing Harvey take to the pitch any time soon.
Neil said:
“I think you’ll be looking at February for him in training. Elliott’s been putting in the graft, putting in a lot of hard yards. I think the word would be that if it is not late January, it might be early February when he’s given the green light to resume some sort of training. It would be good to have him back and he would make a big difference to Liverpool. He’s just a good footballer, and you can never have too many of those available.
[On Elliott appearing in the FA Cup 4th Round or EFL Cup Final]
That might be a bit ambitious, but you never know. I think I would be looking more late February/early March for being involved in a game, but it all depends on his training. Daniel Sturridge had a lot of injuries but I’ve seen him come back and go ‘Right, one training session, you’re on the bench because you’re that good’. Harvey Elliott might be needed, but he also might be in such good shape that Liverpool think, ‘Yeah, we can trust him.’”
Redmen Reacts
It is good to hear that Harvey is not too far away from a return to the side. For those worrying about the depth of the squad’s attacking talent due to AFCON and injuries, but unfortunately, it does not look like the Surrey-born star will be playing before Salah and Mane return from Cameroon and that will not be what Liverpool fans wanted to read or hear.
Elliott has always looked a cut above his age-group peers, and it is a testament of the belief the management have in him that he was trusted to start in central midfield in a top of the table clash against Chelsea.
Most players will, unfortunately, experience at least one bad injury in their career, hopefully Harvey has got his out of the way at an age where his body heals extremely quickly.
A place on the bench in the EFL Cup final would be a nice thing for both him and his teammates to aim for. Hopefully they can both get there but if Liverpool fans were hoping that he’d be available to help cover the losses of the AFCON trio, then they’ll be disappointed at Neil’s update.
