Harvey Elliott says he is ready to step up and become one of Arne Slot’s main men at Liverpool, insisting: “I feel like this is my time to really kick on and achieve what I want to.” And the 21-year-old believes he needs “to be more selfish” to help him develop into one of the key players for the new head coach.
Elliott is heading into his sixth season as a Reds player having joined as a 16-year-old from Fulham in 2019 and despite suffering a serious injury at Leeds United in 2021 and spending a campaign out on loan with Blackburn Rovers, his first competitive appearance in a Slot team will be his 120th for the club.
The versatile midfielder started as one of two ‘No.10s’ in Friday’s 1-0 win over Real Betis in Pittsburgh having developed into a right-sided central midfielder under Jurgen Klopp following his breakthrough as a winger during his teenage years.
Elliott says he has yet to sit down with Slot to figure out where he will be utilised most this coming campaign but the talented England Under-21 star is now ready to embrace more responsibility and seniority, despite still being one of the youngest in the squad at Anfield.
“I think that is the next step for me: more responsibility,” Elliott said on the club’s pre-season tour of the United States. “And now I think I have sort of cemented my spot in the team, I have been around it for five years and I feel like this is my time to really kick on and really achieve what I want to achieve.
“From the club’s perspective as well, trophy-wise, you know we’re back in the Champions League now and it is all exciting. So we just need to trust the manager, trust the setup and the tactics and when we’re out on the pitch, just make sure we apply it.
“It’s part of me learning and growing. I’ve captained England in the U21s a few times so these are all things I’m taking with me. This pre-season we have a younger group so I want to be that voice, I want them to come to me if they have anything to speak about or questions. I have been there before, I was a young lad in a massive team.
“I always had players around me that helped me out so I feel like it’s kind of my job now to help in any way I can that is possible. At the same time they need to just go and play their football because the club have seen something in everyone. They deserve to be here. You saw their performances the other night, it was unbelievable. They just want to fulfil their dream as well as ours.
“I think it’s just to make it a bit more about myself and maybe be a bit more selfish in certain ways but I have that team spirit in me, I will never lose that. I want to play for the team and the badge, I love the club and that is never going to leave me. But in certain situations, I need to think about myself more.
“I really need to focus on this season and kick on and it is on me to do that now because pre-season is going to be big. If I am not performing and not training very well I can’t look at anyone other than myself. I am at an age now where I want to cement my place in the team and I want to be playing week in and week out and as I said it is not going to just come for me.
“I think I just need to be myself. Us as players we’re all here for a reason really and the club have seen something in us. So I just need to make sure I do it on the pitch. Like I have said, I just need to be selfish in my own way in what I do and how I do things.
“I just need to put the performances in on the pitch and as I said if there is one person to blame then it is me and no-one else and I just need to take my opportunity and cement my place in the team.”
Elliott cut short his summer break to ensure he was ready to hit the ground running under Slot when the players reported back for duty at the AXA Training Centre earlier this month and after a holiday spent visiting friend and chart-topping DJ Calvin Harris in Ibiza’s Ushuaia venue and working with Tyler Morton at a training camp, the Reds midfielder says he is raring to go under Slot.
He added: “I came back a week earlier because I was getting bored. I just wanted to be around it again. I just wanted to meet the gaffer, meet the staff and not get a head start but get myself back into the swing of things because I knew this pre-season was going to be intense and I wanted to be in the best possible position. You can have so many breaks but I just felt like it was the right time to come back.
“Calvin Harris was really good! I went to see him a couple of times. Since the open-top bus parade (2022) he has been a close friend and we have always kept in contact and I have always wanted to show my support for him because he has done it for us. It was nice to unwind, went away with one of my close friends Tyler, we had a training programme together and pushed each other to get into the best possible shape. It was enjoyable but felt like I was ready and I was half-bored as well, so I just wanted to come back.
“I think this pre-season is just strange because there are so many people away and we’re trying new things, new formations. Wherever I get put on the pitch I am happy, I just want to go out and put the shirt on and step out and play. This time (against Betis) it was from the left side and next game I am not sure what the plan is going to be but I am just happy to go and play wherever.”
