On Harvey Elliott, the Business of Sport, and Loyalty

Liverpool are a club that, for the big spending that took place over the summer, look a bit light given a string of injuries across different departments of the first team. While the biggest concerns are on the defensive end, with right-back and center-back being particularly light with injuries to Conor Bradley, Jeremie Frimpong, and Joe Gomez, there’s still some question over Arne Slot’s ability to look to the bench for game changers.

With Mohamed Salah back in the fold after his stint at the African Cup of Nations, things are perhaps slightly less dire, but it’s true that Slot doesn’t have as deep a squad as we would hope given the long-term injury to Alexander Isak. Right now, if the gaffer were to play his favored attacking four, the bench would yield Federico Chiesa and Rio Ngumoha as the prime candidates to select if chasing a goal. Which is to say, the pickings are slim.

A name that has lingered on the minds of many Liverpool fans this season that could alsp serve as a decent option off the bench and as a rotational starter is Harvey Elliott. The young midfielder’s loan to Aston Villa, while certainly sad for fans who’d come to see him as a reliable option off the bench, wouldn’t come as as surprise given that Arne Slot’s midfield and offensive set-ups did not seem to benefit the young talent. And with the purchase of Florian Wirtz, a young attacking midfielder who can also play on the wing (albeit on the opposite side of the pitch), it felt like his days at Anfield were always numbered.

To say that his loan to Aston Villa hasn’t gone as planned, though, feels a bit of an understatement. With the young player appearing more or less frozen out of Unai Emery’s side, Elliott made an appearance for Villa late last week which sparked a brief moment of hope. All of that was dashed, though, given Emery’s now quite famous and loopy rant essentially attempting to lay the blame of Elliott’s lack of playing time at the feet of Liverpool – a club that the player is not currently registered at.

It’s more than a bit maddening because the career of a footballer is hinging on the good graces of a manager who clearly does not want to trigger the automatic buy-clause in the deal. Put differently, Elliott’s future is completely out of his own hands.

I have to say I’ve been losing it a bit over this story for the past day or so. Mostly because beyond the absolutely unhinged and indefensible position that Emery has put out – which includes the subtext that Villa’s own form could stand a bit of infusion from the talent that Harvey possesses. Emery is opting to gamble with his team’s chance at catching Arsenal simply because he no longer likes the terms that he agreed to when bringing the player in on loan.

No, I’ve been losing it because this story is truly a sad situation for Harvey Elliott. Here’s a player whose window to hit the ceiling for their career that some had forecasted rapidly closing. And through no real fault of their own.

Perhaps, all told, Harvey simply isn’t a superstar. After all, we’ve seen what Florian Wirtz has managed in the brief time he’s had at Anfield. But I can’t help but wonder what would have happened if he’d landed at a place where, like Jurgen Klopp, he’d been trusted with more.

It’s a sliding doors moment that happens to many footballers, but this one gets me for some reason. Perhaps because we got to watch Harvey make the move into the first team and into a reliable player. We got to see him have moments of triumph on the pitch that hinted at that tantalizing potential. And, maybe most importantly, we got to see a fellow Red live out all of our dreams and make it to the big time.

But I think the entire circumstance also makes me sad because the experience of fandom is so disorienting. We demand so much of the athletes and, perhaps due to their wealth, forget the brutal realities within which they make a living. I’ve seen fans talk about “heroes” and “icons” of the team in one instant, and then demand they be shipped out in the next. Then, those same fans feel burned or offended when one of those same players even deigns to think of playing elsewhere.

I’m not immune to this; in fact I feel a bit strange going so hard on this point given this eco-system is what allows me to write this very screed and to earn a (very modest) sum to do so. I am, to paraphrase a wise woman, also the problem.

So, yes, I’m incredibly incensed at Emery and find the whole thing a bit of a sickening farce. But I’m also really sad for Harvey Elliott and all players who are in similar circumstances.

I hope that, for the sake of Elliott, a resolution can be found. Or, at least, that he may be able to find his way to a squad where he can showcase his talent. And, conversely, I hope Emery has to sleep on a bed that is slightly too short and slightly too warm for the next 5 years. I feel like both of those things would bring me some peace.