TO ELL & BACK
Klopp hails grit of star kid Harvey
JURGEN KLOPP believes Harvey Elliott has the world at his feet after showing such mental strength at a young age to force his way back into his Liverpool side.
But the Reds boss is cautious about piling expectation or pressure on the teen’s shoulders even though the midfielder has already been compared to one of Klopp’s greatest young talents, Mario Gotze.
Elliott, 19, was man-of-thematch in the midweek win over Newcastle and has been an outstanding performer in all of his team’s games this season.
Klopp believes his background has shaped a young man perfectly equipped to deal with fame at such a young age.
The Reds boss said: “First and foremost he is a wonderfully-raised boy.
“He is young as well – apart from in his behaviour and when you see him playing as well, you think, ‘Wow for a 19-year-old...’ It is all about where he is coming from and how he was raised.
“Since he came here from the first day the players really took him under their wings. He didn’t get treated like a 17, 18 or now like a 19-year-old boy, that is why he is in the middle of everything.
“We all forgot how good he was a year ago and he was a year younger before all the rubbish things happened. That’s the case, he is just that good.”
The rubbish things were that after Elliott had forced his way into the Liverpool line-up at the start of last season he was struck down by an horrific knee injury at Leeds.
That kept him out for almost half a season and when he did return, Liverpool’s intense Quadruple-chasing programme meant there was little chance to bed him back in slowly.
Now, though, Elliott is firing on all cylinders, with the Kop taking him to their hearts.
But Klopp has urged caution about going too far over the top given that, at 19, form can wildly fluctuate.
He said: “I like talking about him, it’s just that it is really early (to do that).
“That’s Harvey, a real talent but we all need luck in moments. Let’s just hope that he can go through this and develop and build on this wonderful basis.
“It cannot be positive enough with the impression we have got so far but we judge now what he can reach?
“Nobody knows that, it would be going too early in a career. That’s why I am completely calm with it. It’s great.”
Klopp has experience of dealing with precociously young midfield talent as a boss, of course. Like Elliott, he put Gotze in his Borussia Dortmund side at the age of 17 and saw him go on to win two Bundesliga titles in his first two full seasons, before winning the World Cup for Germany. Elliott nearly achieved a Quadruple last season – and is being tipped to force his way into the England squad for this year’s World Cup.