Owen Hargreaves couldn’t help but notice the reaction of Liverpool’s players when Harvey Elliott came off the bench in the 2-1 win at Crystal Palace on Saturday.
The 20-year-old was introduced in the 74th minute with the Reds trailing 1-0 and went on to score a sublime winning goal in stoppage time.
Speaking on The Kelly and Wrighty Show, the ex-Manchester United midfielder spotted how the youngster’s teammates ‘looked to him’ and consistently fed him the ball during the closing exchanges at Selhurst Park.
The 42-year-old said of Elliott: “It’s interesting when he came on with [Cody] Gakpo, all the boys looked to him. You know what it’s like, Wrighty. You know a player is good when the boys are giving him the ball, when you have it and you just give it to me like, ‘go on, give us something, create something’.
“Mo [Salah] goes inside. There’s a lot of trust in Harvey Elliott’s ability as he’s a lovely football player.”
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Despite only featuring for 24 minutes on Saturday (including 10 in stoppage time), Elliott’s tally of 24 completed passes was equal to Luis Diaz (who played the full match) and twice the number that Darwin Nunez managed before he was withdrawn for the English youngster (Sofascore).
The 20-year-old had 31 touches of the ball during his time on the pitch, 11 more than the Uruguay striker took in 74 minutes of action (Sofascore).
Those figures aren’t intended to denigrate the Reds’ number 9, but instead to capture just how much Liverpool’s players sought to give the ball to the England under-21 star once he was introduced against Palace.
It’s a sign of how much Elliott’s teammates trust him, and how he’s now regarded as an established first-team player rather than an emerging talent despite still being only 20.
He’ll be hoping to improve vastly on his tally of just one Premier League start all season (WhoScored), which is meagre considering we’re now almost halfway through the campaign, but all-action performances like the one at Selhurst Park will surely help his cause massively.