Jurgen Klopp has praised not only the performance of Harvey Elliott v Arsenal, but the 16-year-old’s attitude during the game.
Liverpool’s boss has explained how he loved the fact Elliott was geeing up the crowd and that he spent ages on his lap of honour, too!
It must be a pretty incredible feeling for any player stepping out at Anfield, but when you’re a Liverpool fan, as Elliott is, the crowd is going crazy following a famous win and – to repeat – you’re 16…
It can barely be put into words.
“He is an exceptional talent, absolutely, and he’s a nice kid as well,” Klopp said, cited by This is Anfield.
“To see him, how he encouraged the crowd around the corners…I had a couple of moments where I was really touched tonight, to be honest. So for a few moments, that’s really cool.
“And when I was already in the dressing room and I saw on the TV screen that he’s still doing his lap of honour and giving pretty much everything away, that’s too nice.
“For tonight we can speak about them for as long and as often as you want, that’s great. But they all have to work.
“The younger you are the longer your career [ahead] will be and they have to prepare for that.
“But to give these kinds of signs they gave tonight, I think was really nice for the people I think. On the bench there were a few really good talents [too].
“I liked it a lot, he played really well, not like you would expect a 16-year-old boy to play, that’s cool.”
There is a lot of focus on Elliott already, not only for his talent but also the FA ban for his social media behaviour.
He’ll have learned his lesson from that and will now keep his head down until he gets his next opportunity, which will most likely arrive in either the EFL Cup or the FA Cup – whichever comes first.