How Blackburn Rovers helped Liverpool to impending £35m cash windfall | OneFootball

Liverpool were massively helped by Blackburn Rovers in the £35 million sale of Harvey Elliott to Aston Villa.

Liverpool are set to earn £35 million from the sale of Harvey Elliott next summer, and the Reds should be grateful to Blackburn Rovers for playing a major role in his development and them earning that sum of money.

Having moved to Liverpool from Fulham in the summer of 2019, having previously become Fulham’s youngest ever first-time player at the age of 15, Elliott was one of the most highly-rated prospects in England.

The Surrey-born midfielder was clearly admired by Jurgen Klopp from an early stage, and he was eased into the first-team picture at Anfield during the 2019/20 season as they won the Premier League title, with Elliott making eight appearances across all competitions for Klopp’s men.

Regular football was required for Elliott to truly mature and begin to fulfil his potential, though, and that is where a loan move to Blackburn for the 2020/21 season gave him the perfect platform to do so.

Harvey Elliott was able to shine at Blackburn Rovers

In the 2020/21 campaign, Blackburn Rovers, as has so often been the case in the last decade or so, were firmly ensconced in the middle-of-the-table throughout the campaign.

They weren’t an overly attacking side, had no real at the top six, were nowhere near the bottom three and essentially tread water with a few stars at either end of the pitch, such as Thomas Kaminski, Darragh Lenihan, Adam Armstrong and Ben Brereton Diaz.

On loan that season, they were trusted again to develop some young defenders with both Jarrad Branthwaite and Taylor Harwood-Bellis arriving from Everton and Manchester City, respectively.

Armstrong may have stolen the headlines with 28 goals as the club’s top scorer that season, but Harvey Elliott was the midfield starlet who regularly stole the show for the Lancastrians.

Elliott was 17 for 39 of the 46-game season but, despite his age, was able to not only physically handle himself in the EFL, but also regularly show the class and maturity that his game has to offer.

In 41 appearances for Blackburn, Elliott provided the bottom-half outfit with a direct goal involvement in 18 of those, scoring seven goals and providing 11 assists, also winning the club’s Goal of the Season award for a winning goal against Millwall in December.

The statistics may not be immediately mind-blowing, but taking into account his age and the fact it was his first full season of professional football, playing at a good level in the Championship but for a below average side – and doing it as a midfielder in the rough and tumble of the EFL – is actually fairly staggering.

Blackburn enhanced their reputation after Harvey Elliott success

Having previously been trusted with Tosin Adarabioyo and then Branthwaite and Harwood-Bellis, as well as Elliott, Blackburn’s reputation for youth development was only enhanced by the spell of the former Fulham man.

The club have been relentless in their youth production, bringing through real gems and genuine world-class talents, the most notable recent emergence of Adam Wharton being the best example.

Elliott was someone who benefitted from their skilled nurturing and managed to force himself into the Liverpool first-team squad in the following years as a result of it.

Having been the Player of the Tournament at the UEFA U21 European Championships with England this summer, Elliott required regular minutes in the Premier League and the likes of Dominik Szoboszlai and Florian Wirtz were going to limit him becoming the main man at Anfield.

His loan to Aston Villa includes an obligation to purchase for £35 million, but Liverpool have still inserted a buy back clause should he continue on his obvious upward trajectory.

Liverpool are going to net £35 million for someone who couldn’t have shone or grown into what he is becoming without the aid of Blackburn, and the English champions should be grateful to Rovers for that.