Garth Crooks has been waxing lyrical about one Liverpool player who was astonishingly rejected by a rival Premier League club.
The pundit selected Harvey Elliott in his top flight Team of the Week for his BBC Sport column and registered his amazement at Chelsea snubbing the 21-year-old previously due to reservations about his physique.
The ex-Tottenham forward, who watched the youngster score a screamer against his former club, wrote: “At no stage did Spurs look like they were going to get anything out of this match and by the time Harvey Elliott had hit an absolute belter from just outside the box the game was all over. Spurs rallied but it was in vain.
“Elliott has had an excellent season and proved he has a future at Anfield. Not bad for a kid who was turned down at Chelsea because he was too small. I’m amazed football clubs in England still think in those terms.”
Every football club will harbour regrets over various players who they rejected and subsequently went on to thrive elsewhere, but Liverpool fans can feel particuarly glad that Chelsea declined Elliott as a boy.
Even though the 21-year-old hasn’t been a regular starter for the Reds this season, he’s largely impressed any time that he’s featured and has come up with some show-stopping moments, such as his stunner against Spurs on Sunday and his stoppage time winner away to Crystal Palace.
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If he can add another goal or two in our final couple of matches for the campaign over the next fortnight, he must surely then be in contention to sneak into Gareth Southgate’s England squad for Euro 2024, and it’s baffling that he’s yet to even get a senior call-up for his country.
Chelsea have enjoyed a minor renaissance in recent weeks and could snatch a European place which seemed highly improbable just a few weeks ago, but they must still be looking at Elliott and wondering why they parted with vast fees for the likes of Moises Caicedo, Mykhailo Mudryk and Enzo Fernandez when they could already have had Liverpool’s number 19.
Their loss has been very much our gain!