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da bet nacional： This article is part of Football FanCast’s Opinion series, which provides analysis, insight and opinion on any issue within the beautiful game, from Paul Pogba’s haircuts to League Two relegation battles…
Liverpool announced their third signing of the summer on Sunday as Harvey Elliott joined the Reds.
The 16-year-old arrives as a relatively under-the-radar signing given the fact that he will not go straight into the first-team – he must wait until his 17th birthday in April until he can sign professional terms – but there are definitely reasons to get excited about the teenager.
Elliott holds the record as the Premier League’s youngest ever player, appearing off the bench against Wolves last term at just 16 years and 30 days old, and you only need to whack his name into YouTube to see why Real Madrid, Paris Saint-Germain, Arsenal and Manchester City were also keen.
Intriguingly, when discussing the success of Jadon Sancho over at Borussia Dortmund, Jurgen Klopp had this to say: “We are not blind – we saw him, we liked him and then we think, ‘Can we get him?’ No. Because English clubs don’t sell to other English clubs. I don’t know exactly what the reason is for that but they don’t do it.”
Manchester City owned Sancho at the time, and as Klopp mentions, there was little chance of the Citizens handing their wonderkid to a rival so an £8m deal was agreed with Dortmund instead.
Klopp says: “English clubs don’t sell to other clubs.” Luckily for Liverpool, Elliott rejected Fulham’s offer to stay and took it upon himself to join the Champions League winners, a circumstantial change which may have gifted Liverpool a player who could become just as good as Sancho is now at just 19.
You may wonder on what basis Elliott can be considered as having just as much potential as Sancho had at the same age, and it is merely the fact that the Liverpool new boy has had far more exposure to the senior game at such a young age.
Sancho never made a first-team appearance for Manchester City, and only got his first taste of action after moving to Dortmund as an 18-year-old.
In Elliott’s case, he made his Fulham debut at 15 years and 174 days old – becoming their youngest ever player – and has already made two Premier League appearances at just 16 years of age.
With the right manager in Klopp, a bit of guidance and belief in his own ability, there is no reason why Elliott cannot hit Sancho’s heights in a few years if he manages to get sufficient game time at Anfield.
Where Manchester City simply flat-out refused to sell their wonderkid to any English clubs, Liverpool have somewhat managed to break a trend and obtain a hugely talented youngster who is just as talented as Sancho was at 16, if not more.
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