Liverpool boss Arne Slot has confirmed that Harvey Elliott is back in training after fracturing his foot while on international duty for the England under 21’s back in September.
The 21-year-old hasn’t had the opportunity to showcase his importance under the new manager having only appeared in one game where he was on the pitch for seven minutes in a 2-0 win over Brentford.
Once fully recovered there will be debate among fans whether Elliott will be apart of Slot’s first team plans or used more for squad rotation and as an impact sub.
According to stats from DataMB, Elliott can potentially provide more going forward than teammate Dominik Szoboszlai. Last season Elliott managed to make more key passes and a higher percentage of forward passes than Szoboszlai.
Though, we cannot overlook the defensive work from the Reds’ number 8 having a higher duel % by 20% over Elliott as well as a higher number of defensive actions.
Another competitor for Elliott will be local lad Curtis Jones who has been in good form recently both for Liverpool and in his debut for England where he scored and won the man of the match award in the win over Greece.
From these stats it is again shown that Elliott can provide more for his team going forward when it comes to key passes, but Jones actually has a similar number of forward passes as well as a higher forward pass percentage.
When compared with Jones, Elliott has a far higher number of progressive passes as well as a much higher duel% despite being viewed as more of an attacking midfielder than Jones.
It is also important to recognise that all stats are from last season so may not account for some differences that the new manager has made, therefore individual player stats could look very different come the end of this season.
But looking at all of these comparisons we can determine that Elliott’s return to the squad could at the very least see him be a very good rotation player to provide rest for others if he’s not a regular starter from now to the end of the season.
The youngster may be vital for Liverpool if they hope to continue their good form as they may find themselves stretched a bit thin still being in all four competitions where they currently sit at the top of both the Premier League and Champions League tables.
