Liverpool coach recalls Klopp’s first impression of ‘diamond’

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp was impressed with ‘little diamond’ Harvey Elliott after his first training session.

Elliott joined Liverpool from Fulham in the summer for a potential record fee still to be decided by tribunal.

The 17-year-old has already made an impact at Anfield, receiving praise from Klopp and former academy boss Neil Critchley, while making seven appearances and being named on the bench for both the Club World Cup and Super Cup finals.

In an interview with assistant manager Pepijn Lijnders for the official Liverpool website, the teenager discussed his breakthrough.

“So, this is a quick interview with our ‘little diamond’ of the team, Harvey Elliott,” said Lijnders.

“I am looking forward to it and I will try to get more to know about him and to show what a good kid he is. He is a great player, which everybody sees, but behind that is a great human being – and a great addition to our team and our squad. So, let’s start!

“Training at Melwood, was there one moment in this last half-year where you thought, ‘Wow! This goes really quick!’?”

Elliott replied: “I think it was my first training session.

“Obviously the full squad wasn’t there, but stepping through the doors and seeing all the lockers was a real moment for me. Then onto the pitch and the tempo of training and the quality of the players… I was like, ‘Wow!’”

Lijnders then recalled his and Klopp’s first impression of the youngster.

“You speak about your first session. I remember coming back into Melwood and me and Jurgen were sitting and both said, ‘OK… that’s quite impressive for a 16-year-old!’.

“Normally when we do the counter-press rondo we did that day, you see straight away if a player can handle the speed and decision-making because it’s such a short space you play our game in.”

Elliott added that Klopp was “any player’s dream to play under”. Naww.