Harvey Elliott is enjoying his summer away from Liverpool, that’s for sure.

The 22-year-old has played a pivotal role for England Under-21s in Slovenia, scoring four goals in five starts for the Three Lions.

Yet Arne Slot clearly isn’t sure, as two Premier League starts - which came after the title was wrapped up - underline.

Slot has even admitted that after Elliott returned in December from a broken foot, an issue which derailed his first half of the campaign, that he felt the ex-Fulham man wasn’t up to the required standards.

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"Harvey is one of the players that hasn't had as much playing time as he maybe deserves,” Slot said ahead of last month’s trip to Chelsea.

“But like some others he's in competition with so many good players, so mainly I've chosen other players.

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“There was no need for me to start with different players, but I think if you look at the amount of minutes he had in the last one or two months and the time before, you can see it goes up already.

"So that tells you we like, I like him more now than I did when he came back from his injury in the first months."

Whether Slot likes Elliott enough for the midfielder to have a serious role to play at Liverpool next season is uncertain

19 has admitted he may need to move on for the benefit of his career, and has been linked with moves to several clubs in recent weeks.

Liverpool.com understands Brighton & Hove Albion holds strong interest in Elliott, while West Ham United, Aston Villa and RB Leipzig have been mentioned as possible moves.

Explaining earlier this season why Elliott has struggled to hold down a place in the team, Slot said: “I always say to the players it’s not only about you, it’s also about the competition you are in.

“And in his situation he’s in competition with five very good midfielders that you know and there are a few youngsters coming through that are very talented as well but they are not close to playing time yet.

But he’s in competition with Wata, with Ryan, with Curtis, with Macca and himself, so these are the midfielders we have at the moment

He has to bring performances like he does and then playing time will probably increase.”


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