Harvey Elliott's Out; Who Comes In?

Harvey Elliott has been ruled out for two months. Arne Slot needs to find an alternate number 10 for Liverpool to allow Dominik Szoboszlai a rest.

This should have been the season of Harvey Elliott. There is still time for 2024/25 to become that to some extent, though the news from Paul Joyce is that he will likely be out of action with a fractured foot until the end of October. It is undoubtedly a blow.

Elliott had been in electric form since the start of March. Per Opta Analyst, his total of eight assists in all competitions from that point until the end of 2023/24 was matched only by Rodri at any Premier League club.

The young midfielder set up 11 goals in total last season, a relatively rare tally for a player in his age 20 season or younger. A search of FBRef for qualifiers for this criteria brings up 135 examples.

However, this total stretches back to Darren Anderton when football was first invented in 1992/93 while also including players in, for instance, the fifth tier of English football and lower leagues in other European countries. If we focus on the last two seasons, you’ll recognise most of the names. It’s an elite achievement.

Elliott followed this by being the Reds’ leading creator of shots in pre-season, while also being joint-top of the standings for laying on Opta-defined big chances and assists (data here). As such, it was a surprise that Arne Slot only used him for seven minutes across the opening three matches of the season proper. The Liverpool head coach won’t get as much as that out of him for the next two months, a period in which the Reds will play at least 10 games.

As well as recording plenty of assists, a metric inevitably determined by the finishing of colleagues, Elliott was involved in more open play shot-ending sequences per 90 minutes than any non-Manchester City player last term. His ability to knit things together in the final third will be missed.

It’s notable that Dominik Szoboszlai was also in the top 10 for this metric in 2023/24, as he topped the standings after the first two weeks of this season too. Despite them mostly being right-sided midfielders under Jürgen Klopp, the duo were likely to take the number 10 role for Slot, as the Hungarian has so far in 2024/25.

Szoboszlai is going to need to be rested at times, though, with the primary candidate to fill in no longer an option for now. This won’t turn into a ‘what were they doing selling Fábio Carvalho?’ plea, but it’s worth considering the options available to Slot.

Aside from needing a break himself, Alexis Mac Allister would look to be the obvious candidate. Per Understat, he occupied the position on 28 occasions in the Premier League for Brighton in a 4-2-3-1 system. Shifting the Argentine forward would only open a space alongside Ryan Gravenberch, so who fits there?

Curtis Jones, his own fitness issues notwithstanding, could be the answer in either position. As a possession-savvy ball retainer, the 23-year-old feels like a prime candidate for a Slot midfield. While not having the best pre-season, he arrived into the box for a tap-in against Manchester United, a very good skill to have when posted in the middle of the advanced three.

Here’s a slightly left-field suggestion: Diogo Jota. He started as the central attacking midfielder in what proved to be Klopp’s penultimate match with a 4-2-3-1 formation. He provided the only through-ball assist of his career in that match too, albeit, even more so than with Mac Allister, this would mean moving a player in form to a different berth within the team.

And so, to the potential joker in the deck. Everyone assumed Federico Chiesa joined to provide a rotation option for Mohamed Salah, yet he could feature as the 10. Slot frequently used Calvin Stengs in the role at Feyenoord, a player who, like the Italian, has more experience as a wide forward or winger.

Chiesa, per WhoScored, averaged 3.4 shots plus 1.5 key passes per 90 from his nine matches as the central attacking midfielder for Juventus or Fiorentina. Those numbers are broadly in line with his Serie A career marks, so that position did not diminish his attacking output.

Slot is a very flexible coach. He may switch to a 4-3-3 formation when a few key men need a rest; he did this with the shadow side for the final friendly of the summer against Las Palmas, after all.

It will be fascinating to see who gets the nod in the middle of the trio in the 4-2-3-1 if Szoboszlai is not involved, nonetheless. Even though Elliott has barely had a look-in this season, his absence poses something of a difficult question.

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