Things may very well be going from bad to worse for Harvey Elliott.
A report from Spanish outlet Marca (relayed by Sport Witness) claims that loan club Valencia are less than pleased with the Englishman, who remains overweight.
Now, the Liverpool star has been tasked with using the current international break as a second pre-season to get back to an optimum weight level.
What has Harvey Elliott’s Valencia career looked like so far?
It’s not been the best of starts for Elliott – once described as “outstanding” by Trevor Sinclair (TalkSPORT) – who has picked up only three La Liga appearances and a combined 85 minutes of action.
Far from a great show of trust in a footballer the Spanish outfit has invested serious money into as far as their reported wage commitments are concerned.
And, unfortunately, from our point of view, it means there’s an extremely shallow pool of data to analyse.
| Harvey Elliott’s stats from three La Liga appearances |
| 40/48 accurate passes |
| 55 touches |
| 9 passes into final third |
| 2 defensive contributions |
| 2/3 ground duels won |
| 1 recovery |
| 2 chances created |
| 1 shot on target |
* Harvey Elliott’s stats in 2026/27 La Liga season (Fotmob)
If you’re assessing this as a complete 85 minutes of action in a single game, these aren’t necessarily terrible numbers.
More to the point, it’s worth emphasising that Harvey’s had the misfortune of playing in a very bad Valencia side that has picked up four points from a possible 21 in their opening seven La Liga games.
Elliott needs support after difficult Aston Villa loan and derailed Liverpool career
Look, we’re not excusing Harvey Elliott’s current fitness levels. If Valencia feel they’re below par, we have no reason to doubt this. Why else would Los Che opt not to even involve the midfielder against Alaves due to the perceived intensity of the fixture?
But it’s important, we feel, to bear in mind the context that got the 23-year-old here. Let’s paint a timeline:
- Jurgen Klopp leaves at the end of the 2023/24 season (Elliott picked up 2,786 minutes)
- Arne Slot arrives in the summer and only hands Elliott 821 minutes (albeit Liverpool win the Premier League in 2024/25)
- Harvey Elliott plays a pivotal role in helping England win the U21 Euros (June 2025) and is named Player of the Tournament
- Elliott returns to Liverpool full of confidence, as one of the best young players in world football, and is sent on loan to Aston Villa for the 2025/26 campaign (where he picks up 284 minutes)
- He returns to Liverpool, confidence and fitness wrecked, and does not do enough in pre-season to justify keeping him at Anfield
- Andoni Iraola sends Elliott out on loan to Valencia for the 2026/27 season
Is it really any wonder that our No.19 hasn’t turned up to the Valencian province in the best of shape?
Again, we appreciate some will fairly point out that Elliott is, when all is said and done, a well-compensated professional footballer. He has had an off-season, just like everyone else, within which he could have worked on his fitness. But this doesn’t exclude the player and man from a right to mental health, nor the very real possibility that it has been compromised by a baffling lack of faith shown in his capabilities by every manager he’s come into contact with since Jurgen Klopp called time on his Anfield career.
READ MORE: Harvey Elliott might already be questioning what Giorgi Mamardashvili told him about Valencia
And now, the man at least partly responsible for bringing him to Valencia, Carlos Corberan, has been removed from his role as Valencia head coach. Our only hope is that the next coach to take to the dugout at the Mestalla Stadium, Javier Aguirre, will see Harvey Elliott’s worth from a mile away, put his arm around his young protege’s shoulders and build back up the player we all know he can be.
Without any of that, it’s difficult to have any amount of optimism that the midfielder could revive his Liverpool career.
