Gary Lineker and Micah Richards agree as Liverpool told to avoid Man City transfer mistake | OneFootball

Gary Lineker and Micah Richards were in agreement as they advised Liverpool to avoid a huge transfer mistake similar to one made by Manchester City in the not-too-distant past.

Several members of Arne Slot’s squad have been linked with an exit from the club this summer, including Harvey Elliott, who put himself in the shop window with his starring performances at the European Under-21 Championship as England retained the trophy.

When they won the tournament two years ago, one of the Reds player’s teammates was Cole Palmer, who was with Man City at the time but would join Chelsea a couple of months later, going from a peripheral presence at the Etihad Stadium to the star turn at Stamford Bridge.

Richards advises Liverpool not to sell Elliott this summer

Richards made the comparison to the Blues talisman when advising Liverpool not to jettison Elliott just yet, and he went as far as saying that the 22-year-old may yet be an in-house successor to Mo Salah at Anfield.

The former England defender told The Rest Is Football: “If I’m Liverpool, I’m not selling him. Not one bit. I’m not selling him. It reminds me of the Cole Palmer situation when he was at Manchester City. Okay, you’ve got Phil Foden, you’ve got Kevin De Bruyne at the time, you’ve got other young players coming through.

“I just think, if you could get a good Premier League team on loan for the season, because we keep talking about Salah. Salah signed a two-year deal.

“A year from now, he [Salah] could be, I don’t want to say winding down, but might not be the same player that we’ve been used to over the years. He [Elliott] could play that position so well. I would just wait. I wouldn’t get rid of him right now. Not a chance.”

Lineker concurred with Richards’ assessment as he replied: “I wouldn’t disagree with that at all”.

(Photo by Christian Bruna/Getty Images)

A fair comparison, but will Elliott be content with a cameo role at Liverpool?

The Palmer comparison is an interesting one – similar to Elliott now, he was struggling for minutes in a title-winning team before a move elsewhere saw him go from budding prodigy to genuine star.

Chelsea signed him for £42.5m two years ago, a broadly identical price point to what Liverpool would reportedly seek for their number 19. It may have seemed a gamble at the time, but the ex-Man City starlet’s transfer value has skyrocketed throughout his time at Stamford Bridge.

Elliott certainly isn’t a player who the Reds should be tripping over themselves to offload this summer. He showed with his performances at the European Under-21 Championship, and in cameos such as the late winner off the bench against Paris Saint-Germain in March, that he’s capable of producing decisive contributions.

However, he was already finding it tough to get into Arne Slot’s starting XI before the arrival of Florian Wirtz, which could restrict his minutes even further, and the Englishman mightn’t be content to live off substitute appearances for another season at Anfield.

It’s a tricky dilemma for FSG to ponder, and Palmer is a pertinent case study in highlighting the dangers of casting a player aside prematurely. Thankfully, it’s the kind of decision that Liverpool have tended to get right in recent years, and we’re confident that they’ll do the same again.

We’re in favour of keeping Elliott, but we wouldn’t want anyone to stand in his way if he were to seek pastures new where his talents would have more scope to flourish.