Thiago injury: Liverpool’s ‘fearless boy’ Elliott is why Jurgen Klopp is reluctant to buy a new midfielder

Over to you, Harvey Elliott. Well that appears to be the gist of Jurgen Klopp’s reluctance to dip into the transfer market anyway, despite Thiago Alcantara’s injury adding to his midfield headache.

Liverpool started the new season with a 2-2 draw at Fulham, with three midfielders already sidelined for the trip to Craven Cottage before Thiago hobbled off clutching his hamstring in the second half. It has since been confirmed that Thiago is expected to be out for six weeks.

In a squad boasting eight midfielders, that now makes for just four who are currently match-fit, and even that may be a stretch going by Saturday’s lethargic display, which has already put them on the backfoot in the Premier League given Manchester City’s imperious start.

And what was phrased as a question about Thiago’s injury in the post-match press conference ultimately left Klopp responding about his midfield overall, with his unwillingness to add a ninth midfielder to the mix while the transfer window remains open clear for all to see.

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“We said we don’t need a midfielder because we have enough, but the problem now is we get punished for something that is not our responsibility really because things like this can happen,” Klopp said.

“Now with Thiago that is, of course, not good and we will see, but look, a transfer must make sense now and in the long term; we have midfielders, we have still enough midfielders. It is not that we lack midfielders, it’s just some of them are injured.”

Klopp ended this answer by insisting Liverpool are “for sure not panicking”, and this may be down to his steadfast belief in 19-year-old Elliott, who replaced Thiago on Saturday and could be relied upon more in the weeks to come.

Crisis point? The current state of Liverpool’s midfield

Thiago Alcantara: Came off with a hamstring injury in Premier League opener against Fulham. Expected to be out for around six weeks.

Harvey Elliott: Came on for Thiago and could be set for a run in the team if the injury is serious.

Elliot replaced the injury Thiago on Saturday and could be in line to start against Crystal Palace next (Photo: AFP)

Fabinho: Struggled against Fulham and replaced in the second half by James Milner.

Jordan Henderson: Started against Fulham. A below-par performance but almost won the match in injury time when his strike hit the bar.

Curtis Jones: Picked up a knock in pre-season and missed the Fulham game. Klopp said: “We caught it early but we still have to be careful.”

Naby Keita: Missed Fulham match due to illness but Klopp expects him back in training this week.

James Milner: Liverpool’s Mr Reliable, and an invaluable member of the dressing room who is capable of filling in at full-back as well. A starter for a team with title aspirations? Arguably not.

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain: Suffered a pre-season injury against Crystal Palace in Singapore. Klopp said: “It’s a serious hamstring injury and it will take longer.”

Elliott was one of the brighter notes of Liverpool’s pre-season. Klopp gushed over the midfielder after the win over Crystal Palace in Singapore – “What a nice footballer he is,” Klopp said. “It’s just very natural. That he works hard, we all know, but that he can make the difference in some moments, we know as well.” – and the praise continued after the friendly against Strasbourg as well.

This faith in a player Liverpool signed as a 16-year-old in 2019 is nothing new. Last season, Klopp labelled Elliott “a fearless boy and a great footballer”, and over the summer he pointed towards the teenager as the reason why a new midfielder is not required.

“There is no need for a new midfielder,” Klopp also said in Singapore. “For me, Harvey Elliott is a new signing as well. He is very young and came back brilliant, then had a little low, which is completely normal after being that long out, but we’re really excited about seeing him.”

This proverbial “new signing” possesses a great deal more flair than those around him, meaning Klopp has a tendency to deploy him on the wings as well, although attacking midfield is Elliott’s forte, and was a position he started in last season during the majority of his 11 appearances.

That could and perhaps would have been Elliott’s breakout campaign had it not been for a dislocated ankle, which ended a run of three straight starts in just the fourth league match of the season at Leeds.

And so, instead of a run in the team, a spell in the physio room lasted more than four months, and with Liverpool on a roll in all competitions he was unable to force his way back into Klopp’s plans, watching their final six Champions League games from the bench and playing just 95 minutes of their final 16 league games.

Klopp should point finger at pre-season travels

By Daniel Storey, i chief football writer

Jurgen Klopp has spoken a lot about Liverpool’s fixture congestion at the start of the season, and he clearly believes that played a significant role in their lethargy at Craven Cottage. But surely Klopp is attacking the wrong people?

In the summer just gone, Liverpool flew to Thailand, where they faced Manchester United. They then flew to Singapore to play Crystal Palace, followed by a trip to Germany to play RB Leipzig. They then went to Austria to play Red Bull Salzburg, a match that took place three days before the Community Shield.

If Klopp is worried that his players are tired (and his annoyance will have doubled after Thiago’s hamstring injury that could well be serious), why not have a word with his bosses about not flogging the players across the world? Marketing appeal and the global fanbase are clearly important, but both roughly depend on Liverpool’s continued success. At the point that success comes under threat, they provide little but false economy.

This is an excerpt from The Score, Daniel Storey’s weekly verdict on all 20 Premier League teams’ performances. Sign up here to receive the newsletter every Monday morning

So in a sense, the reset button has been pressed, and Elliott has the chance to go again. He shed weight over pre-season, is hungry to play – having featured against Manchester City in the Community Shield and a day later against Strasbourg last month – and has the mentality Klopp craves.

“I just hate losing, to be honest, so I do everything that I possibly can to get the game in our favour and turn it around for us to win,” he told the club’s website earlier this month. “I just want to play for the badge and give it my all for the badge no matter what the score is, whether we are winning or losing.”

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That desire could well be on display soon. After 39 minutes off the bench against Fulham, a start is in the pipeline for Elliott against Crystal Palace on Monday, with a trip to Manchester United to follow a week later.

Bar Anfield, there is arguably no better stage for a Liverpool player to endear themselves to the club’s fans than Old Trafford, hence why Fabio Aurelio still holds a special place in their hearts 13 years later.

Elliott may well have a red circle around 22 August as the date he could make his mark.

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