Liverpool wonderkid Harvey Elliott still pinches himself that he’s playing for the club he grew up supporting.
Few could have predicted a Surrey-born youngster, rejected by Chelsea for being too small and coming through the ranks of London clubs Queens Park Rangers and Fulham, would go on to sign for one of the biggest clubs in England – Elliott himself certainly never did, as he admitted to talkSPORT.
Elliott is loving life mixing it with legends at his boyhood club LiverpoolGetty
That’s not to say his move from Craven Cottage to Anfield in July 2019 came as a huge shock – he was a Premier League record-breaker after all.
Elliott became the youngest player in English top flight history at the time when he made his first-team Fulham debut at the age of just 16 years and 30 days old.
Two months later, after just three senior appearances for the Cottagers, he was a Liverpool player.
It was a true ‘pinch me’ moment for the young midfielder, who after his dream transfer posted a photograph on Instagram of him wearing a Reds shirt as a boy. Well, as a younger boy.
He’s now approaching 100 appearances for the 19-time English champions, having been a Liverpool player for five years and won a Carabao Cup winners’ medal.
But the novelty and awe of playing for the mighty Reds has not worn off just yet.
“I didn’t really see it coming to be honest, and I didn’t think I’d be where I am today this quick,” Elliott said in an exclusive interview with talkSPORT’s Jim White.
“But it’s just all credit to the club, to bring me in so quickly – I’m still a young Man and still learning my ways.
View this post on InstagramA post shared by
(@harvelliott)
“The lads behind me have been amazing, especially the coaching team, they’ve allowed me to go out and showcase what I can do and play and enjoy my football here, and there’s no better place to do it than here.
“Every day I have the biggest smile on my face coming into the building, it’s like a kid going into a candy shop.
“I’m just excited to go out and train and when it comes to matchdays there is no better feeling and no better buzz, you just can’t wait, especially at Anfield, to walk out there on the pitch and see the crowd.
“And long may it continue! I’m the happiest Man in the World and I just want to keep going and keep putting on the shirt and keep going out and playing for Liverpool.”
The humble ace has 18 appearances this season, but knows his place in the current team.
Only eight of those appearances have been starts, and five were in the Europa League, but he insists he is ‘not jealous’ of his teammates who are ahead of him.
In fact, he says there’s complete support between each and every member of the Liverpool squad, which he says is a ‘family’.
“It’s positive and healthy competition in my eyes,” Elliott said. “We’re not jealous of one another if someone else is playing, we all want each other to do well.
“We’re a team, we’re not individuals, that’s the thing about this team, we’re all one big family.”
And then there’s Jurgen Klopp.
Elliott is just one of the club’s youngsters the German coach has taken under his wing, with the boss routinely praising the midfielder’s attitude, desire and ability – branding him a ‘super player’ earlier this season.
Klopp even awarded Elliott with a Premier League winners’ medal following the club’s title glory in the 2019/20 campaign. He was 17 when the Reds ended their 30-year wait for the trophy – having arrived from Fulham in the previous summer – and made just two league appearances in his first season as a red.
It meant he fell short of the five games needed to be given a medal at the presentation, but Klopp delivered on his promise to get Elliott a medal anyway for the part he played.
The next season saw Elliott join Blackburn Rovers on loan, where he finished behind Michael Olise as the Championship’s Young Player of the Year after an impressive seven goals and 11 assists.
Curtis Jones and Neco Williams did enough to win their own Premier League medals, while Elliott had to wait for his – a present from his gafferGETTY
Klopp is clearly a big fan of Elliott and Liverpool fans cannot wait to see how he develops even more under the GermanGetty
But now the 20-year-old is relishing working under one of the modern game’s great minds and Man-managers.
“First and foremost the manager has taught me to smile every day,” he added about Klopp.
“He’s such a lovely guy as well as an unbelievable manager, he’s always trying to help us improve as a team, always giving us pointers and meetings.
“There’s really no better person to be working under than Mr Jurgen Klopp.
“For me he’s the best in the World at the moment and I’m just trying to learn all I can from him.”
