There has been a changing of the guard of sorts in the Liverpool midfield in recent weeks.
And not just because Harvey Elliott has bullied his way up the pecking order following his season on loan at Blackburn Rovers.
Following his impressive pre-season, the 18-year-old is actually the only midfielder to have been involved in all three of the Reds’ Premier League matches so far this season, with his emergence perhaps demonstrating why Jurgen Klopp kept faith in his current options as opposed to finding a replacement for Gini Wijnaldum this summer.
Meanwhile, as Elliott finds his feet in the Premier League, captain Jordan Henderson has committed his long-term future to the club until the summer of 2025 by which time the midfielder will be 35 years of age.
Handing out new contracts has been the priority for Liverpool this summer with the Reds skipper only the latest man, alongside Nat Phillips and Rhys Williams, to agree new long-term deals, following in the footsteps of Elliott, Caoimhin Kelleher, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Fabinho, Alisson, Virgil van Dijk and Andy Robertson.
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Elsewhere, Mohamed Salah is expected to be the player to sign an extension with reports suggesting he will become the highest paid player in the club’s history when he puts pen to paper.
Yet, for all the new contracts, there has been no talk regarding extensions for any of the players currently scheduled to become free agents next summer.
In the case of Divock Origi and Loris Karius, that is no surprise given the club were open to offers for both before the transfer window closed. Meanwhile, Adrian has only just been handed a one-year extension.
But when it comes to vice-captain James Milner, it does suggest that his Liverpool career could be coming to an end.
Set to turn 36 in January, the midfielder started the Reds’ season opener against Norwich City but failed to make the matchday squad against Burnley because of a knock while he also sat out last weekend’s draw with Chelsea.
Boasting crucial experience, leadership skills and versatility, Milner is still a vital player for Klopp’s squad and physically one of the fittest as his distance covered per match and bleep test results consistently prove.
But there is no getting away from the fact he has missed an increasing number of matches through niggling injuries in the last couple of seasons, with Transfermarkt having him down as missing 28 games because of various setbacks since the start of the 2018/19 season.
In contrast, he had only missed eight matches through injury during his first three campaigns with the club.
Perhaps such setbacks are to be expected considering Milner’s age and lack of consistent starts. Once a virtual ever-present when Klopp first joined, he was limited to 11 Premier League starts last season, having been afforded nine the year before, as his game-time is managed and naturally dwindles.
He has slipped down Liverpool’s pecking order in recent seasons, with Klopp even failing to mention him when listing his plethora of midfield options ahead of facing Chelsea last week.
“Last weekend doesn’t mean that Harvey [Elliott] is now the saviour of our midfield problem because we don’t have one,” the German told reporters. “If Gini is still here, Harvey probably wouldn’t have played this game.
“But he played and he played well. Great. And I knew before this game there was a good chance that he would play well but he did. And we have others as well. Curtis Jones is 20 years old and played 15-20 games last year. He can make, will make and has to make the next step.
“Naby Keita obviously hasn’t played a full season so far exactly how he expects or we could have expected it but he always has really good games. Big games where we’ve won when he’s started and now he’s started this season twice. Would he have played if Gini is still here? I don’t know obviously but maybe not.
“And then we have Thiago who didn’t start a game yet. We have [Jordan Henderson] who played only one of the games. We have [Alex] Oxlade-Chamberlain with a dynamic that you cannot buy at the moment if you want to buy a midfielder. I probably have forgotten one. Ah, Fabinho of course!
“So that is the situation. There is no need just to buy a midfielder because someone is on the market. I cannot help the supporters who want us to sign a player just to get somebody in.
“We did our business as well and now we should be ready. If you’re really with us and really think about it, you’ll realise there is no real need.
“If the one player who is really the one who could improve all the things we have spoken out, we would go for him, I promise, if we would see him.”
Now his absence from Klopp’s list could have been innocently down to his current injured status, with the Reds boss only naming his available players.
But regardless of whether it was a simple oversight or a sign of injury, it shows his status in the Liverpool camp is not what it once was.
Reportedly taking home a weekly salary of £140k a week according to Spotrac, there is an argument to be had that his game-time return no longer warrants such a wage and it could be time for a parting of the ways next summer.
And it was telling that when Henderson signed his new contract, it was put to him that he could follow in Milner’s footsteps as the elder statesman in the dressing room.
“Millie is an example to everyone in the dressing room and a big example to the younger generation as well,” Henderson said. “He’s a little bit of a throwback to the old school and I quite like that from Millie.
“He’s very dedicated and professional, as we all know. He’s great to have around the training ground. But he’s a top player as well and I think people forget that, even though he might be the age he’s at now, he could continue to play for another two, three, four years really in terms of his physical shape.
“So it’s down to him what he wants to do. But every time he played last season – I know he’s recovering from a little injury now – but even pre-season, last season when he played in the games, he was at the top level.
“You don’t really see it drop off. And hopefully he can continue on that path for the next few years, definitely.”
Make no mistake, as Henderson says, Milner is by no means ready for the retirement home just yet, and when that day does come he will inevitably make an excellent coach if he wishes. There would certainly be no complaints if he was snapped up to be part of Klopp’s backroom staff when he does retire.
But as his role on the pitch at Liverpool becomes increasingly bit-part, both player and club face a difficult decision in the upcoming months regarding whether he continues fulfilling such a role at Anfield or would be better-suited moving on and finishing his career elsewhere as a first team regular.
Regardless of whether he moves on next summer or at the end of a new one or two year contract, sooner or later Milner’s time as a Reds player will come to an end, and Henderson will step into that elder squad player role with Elliott emerging as a Liverpool midfield linchpin.
And with the Reds vice-captain merely the most obvious example of an ageing squad, supporters call for new signings in midfield and attack to continue to challenge Man City, Manchester United and Chelsea.
Yet that process is already slowly happening before their very eyes.
