Andoni Iraola urged to trust Harvey Elliott as Liverpool pre-season approaches
Andoni Iraola made his first appearance in front of the media as Liverpool‘s manager on Monday 13 July.
The Spaniard faced many questions from reporters and journalists and gave a bit of an insight into how he sees things going for Liverpool this summer.
The Reds’ pre-season is expected to start on 20 July with a decent chunk of their players expected to be available for their games.
Changes have already taken place at Anfield with Iraola being one of the main driving forces behind Victor Munoz’s Anfield switch this summer.
However, if the Spaniard wants to get straight into the good books of the Reds’ fans, he could easily save Liverpool millions by doing just one thing this summer.
Andoni Iraola needs to trust Harvey Elliott to play for Liverpool rather than get rid of him
Many expected Harvey Elliott to have moved on from Liverpool by now.
During Arne Slot’s first season in charge, the young Englishman barely had any playing time, which forced him to seek pastures new and resulted in him joining Aston Villa.
He went on an initial loan deal with an obligation to buy after he’d played 10 games for the Villans, a number which was seen as easily achievable by both parties.
However, for one reason or another, Unai Emery chose against signing him permanently and only allowed him to play nine times across all competitions.
This has led to Elliott returning to Liverpool and, if Slot was in charge, he would have 100 per cent been out of the Anfield doors.
But, with Iraola at the helm, it feels like there is a chance for every single player to have a fresh start and prove their worth, which is why the Spaniard needs to trust Elliott and let him prove how good he actually is.
The 23-year-old is fairly versatile and, although he mostly played as a central midfielder for Jurgen Klopp, he has been used as a right-winger and, since that is an area that the Reds need to fill this summer, Elliott could be their perfect solution.
Why Harvey Elliott staying at Liverpool would save them millions
In the current transfer market, a natural right-winger is like gold dust.
Over the last year or so, Liverpool have had two main targets on their shortlist in Yan Diomande and Antoine Semenyo.
Each of them felt close to making the Anfield switch at one point or another, but in the end, neither of them made the move to L4.
And, since Salah has now exited Liverpool for good, they have a huge void to fill on the right side of their attack.
Indeed, Federico Chiesa and Jeremie Frimpong can be used there if needed, but if Iraola wants to lead his men to some silverware, he needs to bring some much better players in to help them do that.
But, for now, if the Spaniard wants to focus on improving other areas of his squad first, it feels like Elliott could do a stellar job on the right, especially with his keen eye for goal.
Last summer, he was England’s Under-21s best player in the Euro’s and, if he can re-find that form, he could become an incredibly important asset to Iraola.
