7 hours ago
6
With just five minutes to go, Harvey Elliott stood and savoured the acclaim.
The Liverpool forward raised his arms at the Stadion Tehelne pole in celebration, drinking in the reception after scoring his - and England Under-21s' - second goal - one which ultimately sent the Young Lions into their second successive Euro final.
Elliott's double booked a showdown with Germany on Saturday after Lee Carsley's defending champions deservedly beat the Netherlands in the sweltering heat of Bratislava.
A pocket of young fans had spent the majority of the second half chanting his name, especially after he smashed in a fine 62nd-minute opener, and Elliott deserved the adulation after a season of frustration.
The 22-year-old won the Premier League with Liverpool last season but made just two starts to leave his Anfield future uncertain.
Elliott admitted he does not want to be "wasting years" in his career and will assess his club situation this summer.
If his performances in Slovakia are anything to go by then he will have plenty of suitors and options to play regular first-team football.
Four goals for the Young Lions has left Elliott as the tournament's second top scorer and poised to complete a personal double having helped England lift the Euro 2023 title.
He is one of the leaders of the group and only he and Toulouse's former Leeds defender Charlie Cresswell remain from the trophy-winning team of two years ago.
Elliott was emotional afterwards as he reflected on his late and decisive winner, saying: "It's up there, every goal I score is a massive moment because I enjoy scoring goals, I enjoy the feeling and buzz and it gives me confidence.
"Emotionally and mentally it's definitely up there. There's nothing better than scoring for your country in front of your family in the stands.
"We all deserve to be here, the squad is incredible in terms of the quality, in terms of how we play football as a team and the togetherness we have.
"The moment we have fear within ourselves is the moment it goes wrong. I think now, especially after the Spain game [in the quarter-finals], the fear isn't there anymore. We can take on any team."
He did, though, admit he would need to re-think his sliding celebration after his opener.
"I decided to a do a silly knee slide which really hurt, but you have to live in the moment," Elliott told BBC Radio 5 Live.
Elliott made 18 league appearances under Arne Slot last season, but his only two starts came against Chelsea and Brighton, when Liverpool had already won the league.
That was in stark contrast to the previous season, with 11 starts in 34 league games for the Reds in Jurgen Klopp's final campaign.
Elliott has made 147 appearances, scoring 15 goals, in his six years at Liverpool since joining from Fulham as a teenager, with a season on loan at Blackburn in 2020-21.
England Under-21 boss Carsley has only seen Elliott's desire to succeed this summer.
"I've not seen a lot of the frustration," he added. "What I have seen is someone who's determined to play and to get the minutes. He wants to play every game and all of the minutes.
"He's definitely built into the tournament. Not getting as much game time towards the end of the season, we've had to manage his minutes in terms of the amount he's played and the intensity he plays at because he's so explosive with the way he moves and his end product.
"We're very lucky to have him."
Brighton have been linked with a move for Elliott, as have former club Fulham, and while Wolves have been mentioned they have already signed Spaniard Fer Lopez and any fee is likely to be too high for the Molineux outfit.
Former Liverpool defender Stephen Warnock, part of BBC 5 Live's commentary team in Slovakia, believes Elliott has done well to ignore talk about his future and impress at the Euros.
"There's a lot of speculation about 'will he be at Liverpool next year?'," said Warnock, who made 67 appearances after coming through the youth ranks at Anfield.
"That's not easy. There will be phone calls with his agent about who's talking, where are we looking at going and what are the potential avenues, am I going to stay at Liverpool? It's very much a rollercoaster as the tournament goes on.
"Because of the amount of games he has played for Liverpool, and the impact he had coming in, I think we all thought he would catapult and play for a long time in the first team.
"But he has a World Cup winner in Alexis Mac Allister in front of him, [Ryan] Gravenberch had an unbelievable season and [Dominik] Szoboszlai was brought in for big money.
"He has responded well in this tournament. Mo Salah talks about moments in games and Harvey Elliott is one of those players for the moment. When the moment presents itself he is calm and composed."
Former England international Joe Cole said Elliott will now be hot property.
He has two years left on his Liverpool contract, but with the £116m arrival of Florian Wirtz from Bayer Leverkusen his game time is likely to be further limited.
Cole told Channel 4: "I love the kid, he plays football the right way. I am excited for his future. He has done a great job for Liverpool but if he decides to move on, there are levels to move on again. That passion, he can show every week.
"Anyone outside the top six he comfortably walks into and then two years on that level he comes back to Liverpool's level and competes.
"He started as a young man at Fulham but his learning has been spread out. Teams from all over Europe will be looking for Harvey Elliott's agent's number."
Cole also believes Elliott's matchwinning strike - driving forward before firing a low shot into the corner from the edge of the box - was worthy of greater praise.
"That second goal, if Messi did this, the world would be stopping. He has this ability and the frustrating thing is he could do it on a consistent basis if he played regularly," said the former West Ham, Chelsea and Liverpool midfielder.
"His problem is he can do so many good things. He's a victim of his own skills and that is why he has been so good for Liverpool. They can play him anywhere."
