Patience is a virtue as Harvey Elliott waits on the sidelines for Liverpool redemption

It was probably not quite the post-Merseyside derby day that Harvey Elliott will have been hoping for on Monday.

While his Liverpool teammates soaked up the acclaim of yet another sizable win in this increasingly wondrous campaign, Elliott was given a very different assignment by the Liverpool bosses at the start of the week.

Instead of uploading images of Sunday's victory onto his social accounts and basking in the glow of the latest win over Everton, Elliott was instead being asked to fill in for the club's under-23s.

His Liverpool colleagues may have been casting a glance towards Wednesday's UEFA Champions League semi-final, once the furor of the 240th derby has subsided, but Elliott's focus was elsewhere.

The versatile youngster played 45 minutes for the U23s side in their 4-0 win over Leicester City, which followed on from a run-out in a 2-2 draw with Chelsea at the start of the month.

It's more modest surroundings than what he has perhaps become accustomed to this season, where he has played at the likes of Anfield, the San Siro and Wembley, but there has been no grumbling from a player who is acutely aware of what could await him in his career with his boyhood club.

Elliott's last appearance for the seniors was last month in the FA Cup win over Nottingham Forest and after his return from injury was hyped even further by a superbly-struck half-volley in the win over Cardiff in February, it has quietened down significantly of late.

That, though, is ideal for the teenager right now. With Liverpool still fighting it out on all fronts, it might be surprising to learn that Elliott has not featured in the Reds' last five Premier League match-day squads.

But there will be absolutely no concern for Elliott or his camp at this stage of his season or career. Having turned 19 earlier this month, the youngest player in Premier League history will be in no rush to advance just yet as he continues to get back to peak condition after the horrendous ankle injury sustained at Leeds in September.

Liverpool officials were hugely impressed by the maturity and desire shown by Elliott in the aftermath of that awful setback. It was an incident that could have badly affected someone so young, but Jurgen Klopp told this reporter of the "old soul" Elliott has when giving a fitness update in December.

Klopp said: "From a mental point of view, Harvey is rather an old soul, I would say he is very mature for a young age. He is completely fine with the situation, he has accepted it, he deals with it."

"It just shows the character that we have at this club," said U23 boss Barry Lewtas on Monday. "The lads want to play and they understand what they need to do to get to the next level. Harvey’s attitude and his performances - he is a credit to himself and a credit to the club as well.”

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With a full complement of players to choose from at Anfield right now, Klopp has decided that there is no need to risk Elliott for the long haul and instead, the club have been keen to build him up back to the levels he was at the start of the season where he was starting and influencing Premier League matches.

It seems a long time ago now, but Elliott starting the 1-1 draw with Chelsea in August was a huge show of faith from Klopp in the youngster they snared from Fulham in the summer of 2019.

Plainly, there is no need to force his development. Everyone at Liverpool is convinced that he will be a star of the future, but that is one that does not need to arrive imminently. Patience will be key for everyone connected as he continues to get back to 100% and improve as a player too.

For now, the teenager is likely to continue his cameos in the youth ranks and be called upon as a reserve should a knock arrive in the midfield ranks. But a full pre-season later, this summer will give Klopp another hungry, high-class player to choose from in his engine room next season.

And with a cast of all-stars like Thiago Alcantara, Mohamed Salah and Naby Keita to learn from in terms of operating in either the creative midfield or wide forwards areas, there can be no better learning tree for Elliott than Liverpool right now.