Sheffield United appear to have been dealt a blow in their bid to bring Harvey Elliott to Bramall Lane this summer.
What’s been said?
In a recent interview with Liverpool’s official website, Jurgen Klopp very much appeared to give a definitive answer on whether he would be sanctioning the temporary departure of the 18-year-old once again this summer, with the Reds manager stating his belief that the youngster is like a new signing for his side after impressing in pre-season.
Earlier reports claimed that Slavisa Jokanovic had enquired about the possibility of taking his former Fulham starlet on loan for Sheffield United’s 2021/22 Championship campaign.
However, that would now seem to be out of the question, with Klopp stating: “We have obviously a new midfielder in our squad with Harvey Elliott. We have players who can make a big step to fulfil their potential, they are in a good way.”
“He can play [in midfield] and then a little bit later when he went up front, Mo [Salah] went in the centre and Harvey played then the right-wing. He smashed the ball on the crossbar in that moment. He can play different positions, there’s absolutely no doubt about it.”
“But in pre-season we wanted to see him just in a deeper role because, for a young player, you have to learn a lot of things when you are a bit more outside and you get the ball from time to time. We wanted to have him more involved.
“I think he made a big step in this pre-season. If Harvey stays fit then the football world can be really excited about that. I liked his performance [against Athletic Bilbao], I liked his performance and attitude during pre-season. So, good for us, good for him.”
Jokanovic will be gutted
As Klopp states, considering the sheer amount of talent Elliott seems to possess, in addition to Jokanovic currently having no natural wingers in his Sheffield United squad, the 52-year-old is sure to be gutted that it seems like the youngster will not be making a temporary switch to Bramall Lane this summer.
Indeed, over his 41 Championship appearances while on loan at Blackburn Rovers last season, the £13.5m-rated man scored seven goals, registered 11 assists and created 14 big chances for his teammates, taking one shot and making 1.7 key passes per game.
These returns saw the man who Elliott Bennett dubbed an “unreal” player earn an average SofaScore match rating of 7.10, ranking him as Tony Mowbray’s third-best player in the league.
As such, should Elliott have secured a summer move to a Sheffield United side boasting numerous players who featured in the last two Premier League seasons, the potential numbers that the £7.5k-per-week Liverpool starlet could have returned for the Blades would seem mouthwatering.
However, with it very much seeming as if Klopp is planning on keeping the England under-19 international at Anfield this season, Jokanovic will now have to turn his attention elsewhere regarding attacking reinforcements in the transfer market.
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