Theo Squires report from Bolton Wanderers’ Toughsheet Community Stadium as Liverpool midfielder Harvey Elliott once again stars for England Under-21s
A section of the Liverpool fanbase have a rather ambivalent relationship with international football.
Boasting supporters from all over the world, many will be patriotic when it comes to their own homelands’ respective national sides. But when it comes to the England team, it’s ‘Scouse, not English’ for a reason.
Sure, Kopites feel pride and happiness on the behalf of Liverpool players when they are called up. Joe Gomez’s recent international recall after three and a half years is proof of that.
But beyond being pleased should the Reds stars from across the globe do well, their interest is predominantly limited to hoping that their players return back to the AXA Training Centre injury-free – something which hasn’t happened with Andy Robertson.
Of course, supporters can be offended and defensive on the behalf of Liverpool players, too, should they be overlooked. It did not go unnoticed that Manchester United’s Kobbie Mainoo was promoted swiftly from England’s under-21s to the senior squad when handed his maiden call-ups in the March international break for example, while Harvey Elliott remains overlooked by Gareth Southgate.
“I’m not sure,” England Under-21s manager Lee Carsley admitted when asked how far Elliott is off a senior call-up. “But if he’s playing week in, week out for Liverpool, scoring and assisting, being really important in that team, then he will put himself in the frame.”
Those of a Reds persuasion would inevitably respond, ‘isn’t that what he’s doing already?’
The 20-year-old has two goals and six assists from his last 10 games for Jurgen Klopp’s side, after all. The pedants will point out that he has one goal and one assist from eight Premier League outings in 2024, but starting their last three in the English top-flight, completing 90 minutes twice, his impact is increasing.
The March international break has offered Southgate his last chance to look at players up close ahead of this summer’s European Championships in Germany. Consequently, Mainoo has set tongues wagging after being handed his international debut against Brazil on Saturday night, having been fast-tracked without kicking a ball for the Under-21s just days after his maiden Young Lions call-up.
Still only 18, he has only made senior 23 appearances for the Red Devils and only made his full Premier League debut last November. Yet he is making a late charge to be on the plane to Germany.
So on a night when all eyes were on Wembley as Mainoo made his full England debut against Belgium, Elliott was instead running the show against Luxembourg at Bolton Wanderers’ Toughsheet Community Stadium in the Under-21s’ latest 2025 European Championships qualifier.
Admittedly, the pair are rather different profiles of midfielder. It is not a case of them being in direct competition. But that doesn’t stop eyebrows from raising back on Merseyside at the in-form Elliott, with 152 senior club appearances under his belt to date, being overlooked once again as Southgate hands out new opportunities elsewhere.
Mainoo would impress against Belgium as England toiled in a 2-2 draw, strengthening his cause for a place on the flight to Germany. But 211 miles away from Wembley, Elliott was running riot in an emphatic 7-0 win. ‘Southgate’s loss’, Kopites would understandably observe. In a break where the Three Lions boss had his hand forced to look at alternative options, could he not have found room in his squad for both?
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“Sometimes you forget how young they are when you see them play,” Carsley would declare ahead of facing Luxembourg. That is certainly true in the case of Elliott, considering it is now four and a half years since he made his Liverpool debut.
He is younger than Jarell Quansah for example, and only three months older than Conor Bradley as his two team-mates continue to enjoy remarkable breakthrough seasons at Anfield. What would be made of Elliott’s own showings if his senior career wasn’t already into its sixth campaign?
The most experienced and well-known player in this Young Lions group, Elliott is also the most exciting. It was his name that was cheered loudest ahead of kick-off by a largely youthful 11,620 crowd, while his every touch in the Luxembourg half was greeted by an increased level of excitement and expectation by home supporters.
Unsurprisingly, given his experience at the highest level of world football, the playmaker makes Under-21s international football look ridiculously easy.
If that was ever in doubt, just look up his logic-defying volleyed rabona pass from Tuesday night, as he flicked the ball up before picking out Noni Madueke with a flawless and outrageous jaw-dropping piece of skill.
Having scored a brace in Friday’s 5-1 win over Azerbaijan, he added two glorious assists to his name in the 7-0 thrashing of Luxembourg, too, all while being kicked black and blue by opposing defenders, winning free-kicks after being left on the floor in a heap on more than one occasion.
