Harvey Elliott is having a blinding season in the Championship with Blackburn Rovers.
The teenager has six goals and 11 assists and has played 40 games already – which is going to be brilliant for his short and long-term development.
So good has he been, former Liverpool winger and current team-mate Stewart Downing labelled him the side’s ‘go-to man’ a few months back, and it’s a mantle Elliott loves.
“I like the pressure upon myself, I like people giving me pressure,” Elliott told the official website. “I think it makes me thrive a bit more and makes me go a bit further just to prove to people that I can deal with the pressure.
“To have the ‘go to’ above my head kind of thing, it sort of just makes me want to show people that I can be the go-to person.
“I just want to keep going throughout my career and, hopefully, I can be the go-to person to win games.
“I think it’s a big risk for them, taking me on loan – especially being young as well and not really knowing what I could produce and how I would cope.
“My thought process was just to go in and give it 100 per cent in every training session, every game. Thankfully, it came off in a nice way.
“By getting these goals and assists, it’s sort of got me used to where I should be in and around the box to either find the assist or get into the scoring positions.”
We can see Elliott being a part of Jurgen Klopp’s first-team squad next season.
With Xherdan Shaqiri likely to be sold, Elliott can come in and fill his minutes – providing a passing, playmaking option across various frontline positions – offering us variety from the bench.
Elliott is not like Mo Salah, or Sadio Mane – who are rapid and goal-hungry. He’s someone who prides himself on his assists more than his goals, and while we undeniably need a new centre-forward, that could be handy, too.
We’ve seen the development of Curtis Jones this season – who will be a genuine starting option for 2021/22 – and Elliott could follow in his footsteps.