Harvey Elliott (03) heads to Blackburn on loan for the season. This is an atypical loan for a pretty atypical player. Indulge me with a thread on why. https://twitter.com/Rovers/status/1317156225260441601

It's incredibly rare for players to debut in senior football as U16s or to play up an age group for England U17s. The exceptions are almost exclusively physical outliers for their age group or in England's case, fast tracked left backs (Garbutt) - sometimes both (Sessegnon).

Maybe he was stockier than the average 15 year old but Elliott was + remains physically pretty unspectacular. He's not bad, but he's no outlier. Despite this, he played up with the 2002s for England's U17s side (in a well stocked position) + he debuted for Fulham at 15 years old.

Sometimes these early club debuts are pretty cynical. A young player is about to leave + it's a hail mary to try persuade them to sign a new contract. That explains Fulham, but doesn't explain his progression with England or Liverpool (involved in 20+ matchday squads at 17).

Elliott can dribble, but again, he bucks the trend, by not being a dominant 1v1 player. He doesn't really resemble many top modern wide players at all, especially those who got their early breaks. His strengths are his playmaking + intelligence on the ball. He's pass first.

Heading on loan at 17 (as an U18) to the Championship. Jordon Ibe + Sheyi Ojo, are the two other U18s I can find in recent history who made the move this early. Parallels in them being U18 Liverpool wide players, very different skillsets. All in the Championship this year.

The unspoken truth about loans is that players usually don't come back from them. Even at this age, unless Elliott really excels this year + kills the spectre of the dreaded 2nd loan, it could mark the beginning of the end of his Liverpool career.

Blackburn is about as good of a temporary home as you could hope, talented group with great short term, medium term + long term potential. FA Youth Cup semi-final to come at the end of the month, in which most of their XI will be younger than Elliott is.

I say all of that to say - I have absolutely no idea what to realistically expect from Elliott this year or in the future. A full season in the PL2 wouldn't have been beneath him but in line with his career so far, he's taking the completely uncharted path.