Harvey Elliott is demonstrating how vital he could be for Liverpool next season while out on loan at Blackburn Rovers.
The 17-year-old winger signed his first professional contract with Liverpool this summer, a year after his high-profile move from Fulham.
Jurgen Klopp outlined how a "perfect culture" at Anfield would aid Elliott's development but the starlet made a surprise switch to Ewood Park in October on domestic transfer deadline day.
Elliott had already made seven first-team appearances for the Premier League champions before his 17th birthday and was handed two more before making his decision to go out on a season-long loan.
Positively though, his decision to gain more first-team experience elsewhere is one that appears to be paying off handsomely.
The youngster has made 17 appearances for Blackburn so far in the Championship this season, scoring four times and assisting five in 1,394 minutes of football - a goal involvement every 155 minutes.
He's also shown how well he can hold onto the ball, while displaying an excellent passing range and capability to finish - but it is his ball progression ability that is really shining this term.
In statistics highlighted by @MC_of_A on Twitter, showing the "top ball progressors in the Championship this season", Elliott is leading the way.
The data takes a look at how many progressive runs and passes a player makes per 90 minutes, with the only stipulation being that they've played more than 1,000 minutes this term.
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Impressively, Elliott tops the pile for this metric with the highly-rated Norwich City midfielder Emiliano Buendia just behind.
At Liverpool, the top ball progressors in terms of key passes are Andy Robertson, Mohamed Salah and Trent Alexander-Arnold which hammers home the way Klopp has set up his side in using the full-backs to move the ball up the pitch into dangerous positions.
When it comes to successful runs with the ball, the same can be said with Robertson and Alexander-Arnold sitting in fourth and fifth this season of Reds to have played more than 1,000 minutes.
Clearly then, Elliott's numbers are notable and he could offer Liverpool something different in another area of the pitch.
And the teenager, therefore, will have no doubt been commanding the attention of Julian Ward this season - with the former loan pathways and football partnerships manager in turn alerting Klopp.
Interestingly, Blackburn are joint-top scorers in the Championship - but sitting 14th in the table - clearly showing their attacking output is operating very well but it is defensively that things need to be worked on.
Liverpool defend from the front and when looking at Blackburn players to have recorded more than 1,000 minutes of football so far this season, Elliott is inside the top 10 for tackling, interceptions and clearances.
It is quite conceivable then, that Elliott will be very much in the line of thinking for Klopp as he looks to evolve his Liverpool side.
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