Liverpool's assistant manager Pepijn Lijnders has compared youngster Harvey Elliott to Barcelona legend Andres Iniesta.
In an extract of the coaches' new book, published in The Mirror, Lijnders had this to say about the former Fulham man:
“There is no such thing as like for like in football, but Harvey Elliott has some of the ingredients of Andres Iniesta and thinks like a creative midfielder,”
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Elliott spent the early years of his career playing as a winger but was revitalised as a central midfielder by Jurgen Klopp at the start of last season, hence drawing the comparisons to the Spaniard.
Elliott was set to play an important role for the Merseyside club last campaign, but he suffered a gruesome injury during his side's 3-0 win away at Leeds in early September 2021.
The injury kept him out for a number of months and he did not return until January 2022, where he was not able to re-stake a claim in the team due to the form of Thiago and Henderson.
However Elliott is expected to play a much bigger role this year.
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In the same book, Lijnders also heaped praise on Liverpool defender Trent Alexander-Arnold and even tipped him to be a future captain
Arnold has made 226 appearances for Klopp's side since making his debut in 2016, and has helped his team win the Premier League, Champions League, FA Cup and League Cup.
The Assistant coach, who mentored Trent at a young age, had this to say about the 23-year-old:
“Even at the age of 15, he was this natural technical talent,”
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“He had all the characteristics I loved: a mentality to win, passionate to improve – but his emotions sometimes took control instead of him taking control over the emotions.
“He trained with so much power and competition. He grew step-by-step into the wonderful guy he is now, surrounded by a lovely family, he created this superb personality.
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“He has this aggression in a positive way. If someone represents this quote of Bill Shankly, it’s him: ‘Playing at the highest level isn’t pressure, it’s a reward’.”
Topics: Liverpool, Andres Iniesta, Harvey Elliott