{"id":126953,"date":"2025-09-02T10:15:17","date_gmt":"2025-09-02T10:15:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/126953\/"},"modified":"2025-09-02T10:15:17","modified_gmt":"2025-09-02T10:15:17","slug":"stewart-downing-once-called-him-a-frightening-talent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/126953\/","title":{"rendered":"Stewart Downing once called him a ‘frightening talent’"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Liverpool have made a late push to continue their frivolous summer spending spree right up until the 7pm deadline.<\/p>\n

The Reds have agreed to sign Alexander Isak<\/a> after a \u00a3125 million deal was agreed with Newcastle United in the early hours of Monday.<\/p>\n

And while official confirmation of the British record transfer is awaited, Liverpool have struck a deal for Marc Guehi<\/a>, agreeing to sign the Crystal Palace captain for \u00a335m.<\/p>\n

Once those signings are finalised, the Reds will have surpassed the money spent in any previous transfer window in the club\u2019s history before this summer, on deadline day alone.<\/p>\n

Richard Hughes<\/a> has also been working on departures before the deadline as another Anfield cult hero packs his bags on Merseyside.<\/p>\n

\"LiverpoolPhoto by John Powell\/Liverpool FC via Getty ImagesHarvey Elliott will leave Liverpool for Aston Villa<\/p>\n

Liverpool<\/a> have sanctioned a season-long loan move for Harvey Elliott<\/a> to join Aston Villa, which will become permanent in 2026 for \u00a335m.<\/p>\n

TBR Football understands Aston Villa sold their project to Elliott<\/a> as the midfielder leaves Anfield in the search for regular first-team football.<\/p>\n

However, ex-Liverpool man Stewart Downing<\/a> once lauded Elliott during their time together at Blackburn Rovers in 2020, acting as a stark reminder of what the Reds have agreed to let go.<\/p>\n

\u201cHarvey is a frightening talent,\u201d Downing told Blackburn\u2019s<\/a> official website. \u201cI think the lads have spoken to each other and mentioned that you look back to when you were 17, you\u2019re a bit of a headless chicken, aren\u2019t you?<\/p>\n

\"HarveyPhoto by Carl Recine\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cBut Harvey\u2019s game understanding, his quality, his knowledge of when to release the pass, even with his goal, he never panics.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor the equaliser (against Rotherham), as soon as he took his first touch, I was turning back because I knew it would be a goal.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe has the finesse, the quality, but he\u2019s also fitted into the group very well. He\u2019s definitely got the quality, but he runs around and works hard as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think most would look at him and say, \u2018He\u2019s good, he\u2019s got the technical ability,\u2019 but he\u2019s buying into everything, the pressing, the tracking back, he\u2019s a real team player.\u201d<\/p>\n

As revealed by TBR Football on Thursday, Liverpool had no desire to sell Elliott<\/a> and were planning for the season with the 22-year-old in the first-team frame.<\/p>\n

The Reds accepting a \u00a335m obligation to purchase clause, when previously Liverpool had insisted on \u00a350m for the midfielder,<\/a> is a clear indication that the club was willing to offer Elliott the best possible path to continue his development away from Anfield.<\/p>\n

Liverpool will miss Harvey Elliott<\/p>\n

Although the England Under-21 international never looked like establishing himself as a regular starter under Arne Slot, his presence will undoubtedly be missed at Anfield.<\/p>\n

Elliott is a lifelong Liverpool fan, and it would not have been an easy decision for him to give up on his dream of playing for the Reds.<\/p>\n

Slot has leaned heavily on his bench at the beginning of the season, with Federico Chiesa and Rio Ngumoha emerging from the dugout and delivering match-winning goals.<\/p>\n

And perhaps the Liverpool boss would have expected a similar impact from Elliott after he scored the winning goal against Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League last season. However, the player had expressed a desire to play week in and week out, and this was just not possible on Merseyside.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Liverpool have made a late push to continue their frivolous summer spending spree right up until the 7pm…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":126954,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[69],"tags":[13931,8322,3450,403,99,80979],"class_list":["post-126953","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-soccer","tag-aston-villa","tag-harvey-elliott","tag-liverpool","tag-soccer","tag-sports","tag-stewart-downing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126953","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=126953"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126953\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/126954"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=126953"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=126953"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=126953"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}