Harvey Elliott is ready to become the player every kid dreams of emulating when they are growing up.
At the age of just 18, he has already collected winners' medals in the Super Cup, Club World Cup and Carabao Cup, even scoring in the penalty shoot out at Wembley when Liverpool won the third of those trophies in February.
He is still young enough to dream of copying the players he worshipped - including Neymar - when he was a boy first getting into the sport. But he says that now he’s got a taste of the big time with the Reds as a full time member of Jurgen Klopp’s first team squad, he wants to become the player who inspires youngsters to dream big.
Speaking in a New Balance series called Assumptions on YouTube, he said his aim is to make the most of his talent at Anfield. “Neymar used to be my idol, to see the background where he came from and where he is now, it’s very inspirational, but I don’t really look up to anyone now in the game, to be honest,” he explained.
“Now and in and around the team I want to be that figure people look up to. I look at players and take bits from their game to my game, but I want to be my own person. I want to play my own game, don’t want to base it off anyone else, and I want to be a figure who can inspire.”
Not that Elliott doesn’t admire the players around him, as he faces a whole cast of world class stars in training every day. And he is no doubt, one of them if the best in the world right now, eclipsing even his hero Neymar in becoming the most dangerous forward in football.
HAVE YOUR SAY! Should Elliott be a guaranteed starter for Liverpool already? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section.
He added: “Mo Salah is the best player in the world in my opinion,” he said. “Who wouldn’t love playing with Mo Salah! Alongside Trent as well on the right side, it’s a dream for any youngster, yeah, to play alongside those two.”
And he also reserved special praise for Liverpool’s January signing Luis Diaz, who has impressed everyone at Anfield with his incredible skill and pace, since arriving from Porto. Eliott added: “Diaz is a proper baller already - yes! I said it before, before he was even a Liverpool player you could see how talented he is, but now he’s at Liverpool I’m sure he’s going to showcase just how good he is.”
Liverpool assistant manager Pep Lijnders claimed Elliott's has a relentless work ethic which has made him and Klopp stand up and take note. He said earlier this year: "Some players don’t knock on the door, they run through it. And Harvey is a player like that in each session. We like the players with goals in them. We like the players who don’t just have dribble or technique but always search for the last pass and he influences our game a lot.”
