Harvey Elliott has heaped praise on Liverpool teammates Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk for their influence on his burgeoning leadership qualities, following his decisive role in England's 2-1 victory over the Netherlands at the Under-21 Euros.
The Reds' young talent is shining bright for the Young Lions, who are looking to defend their title after their triumph in 2023, where they edged out Spain 1-0 in the final. Elliott, alongside Charlie Cresswell, remains from that victorious squad and is embracing a more pivotal role within the team.
Elliott, who has been urged to move on from Liverpool, reflected on the impact of his Anfield colleagues: "At so many moments throughout the season the likes of Mohamed Salah has had to score important goals, winning goals.
"Towards the end of the season Van Dijk came up and scored a header in the 90th minute. I think things like that, to not give up, to keep going to the final whistle and take these opportunities, I think that's leadership.
"You can speak as much as you want on the pitch, you can say whatever, but at the end of the day when the moment comes and you need to show up, and you need to, for example, in my situation, score a goal.
"It's about how you take that, and those opportunities are vital. Today I'm just so happy I was able to contribute and get the two goals to win us the game."
Harvey Elliott was the hero for England who will get the chance to defend their Euros crown
Harvey Elliott was the hero for England who will get the chance to defend their Euros crown (Image: Jeroen van den Berg/Soccrates)
Looking ahead to the possibility of replicating his heroics in the final, Elliott remained open to any outcome: "Who knows? In the final it could be someone else.
"I just hope I can keep the team spirits high and give the motivation to the team, that it doesn't have to be me or the attackers, it can be anyone in the team, because we're all amazing players and we deserve to be here.
"We all deserve to be here. The squad is incredible in terms of the quality, in terms of how we play football as a team, and the togetherness we have.
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"The moment we have fear within ourselves is the moment it goes wrong. I think now, especially after the Spain game, the fear isn't there anymore.
"We can take on any team, we can play to the best of our abilities and we go into every game now thinking that we can win because we have the players, we have the squad, and we have the backing from the manager as well.
"There is no fear, it's just about us going out and delivering and we're doing that at the minute."