Arne Slot hints at Harvey Elliott DEPARTURE

To some Liverpool fans Arne Slot’s treatment of Harvey Elliott is puzzling. The 21-year-old finished last season in Jurgen Klopp’s preferred XI and looked set to kick on under Arne Slot this term.

But it hasn’t worked out like that. He was unable to force his way into the midfield during the early part of the season with Dominik Szoboszlai winning his place back in the team and Curtis Jones featuring prominently too.

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The England under-21 international could forget about playing on the right wing too with Mohamed Salah in Ballon d’Or form and Federico Chiesa signed as an alternative.

Then he suffered a foot injury on international duty, ruling him out for two months of action. Since his return he has enjoyed only limited game time with Slot offering a paltry 76 minutes of Premier League action across 10 appearances.

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Elliott has yet to start a league game and provided only one assist - during the 2-0 victory against Brentford last month. The lack of action has left Elliott prone to transfer rumours with both Brighton and Borussia Dortmund linked with his signature.

But the midfielder is under contract until 2027 and has made it clear he does not intend to seek a transfer elsewhere.

Slot likes QUICK players

However, Slot has perhaps given a glimpse of how he thinks about Elliott in an interview with Sky Sports. Listing the three qualities he likes most in a player, he named speed as one of the key characteristics.

That is an indictment on Elliott, who has never been the quickest player at the club.

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“It’s all about quality of course, that’s the first thing, what is their quality,” he said. “I think what I like, what I think is very important for a player is that he can change direction fast.

“Work-rate and then ability, quality on the ball. If you don’t have quality on the ball then you can forget playing here at Liverpool. “But I think there are players who have a lot of quality on the ball but if you can’t turn quickly or change direction quickly and you’re not able to run a lot, then it’s going to be really hard to play in the modern game at this level.

“Decision making, maybe, because they all have quality on the ball if they’re playing in the Premier League. But, do you understand when to make which decision. So, these three elements are maybe key.”

Sky Sports released Premier League speed data back on October 4. Tottenham’s Micky van de Ven was clocked as the league’s fastest player at 37.12 kilometres per hour.

Liverpool’s quickest players were Trent Alexander-Arnold (34.74 kph) and Virgil van Dijk on 33.97 kph. Elliott was way down the list in 20th place, behind goalkeeper Alisson Becker and only ahead of Joe Gomez and Caoimhin Kelleher in the entire squad.

He clocked a top speed of only 26.98 kph - the 390th-quickest player in the Premier League overall.

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And while Elliott’s decision-making and quality on the ball have never been in doubt, his lack of pace could be the defining factor in how his coach has chosen to use him. That isn’t promising for Elliott’s long-term future prospects at the club and he could well be sacrificed to make room for new signings in summer.

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