Liverpool head into their Champions League opener unbeaten in the Premier League this season, though only one of their three league games has produced a win.
Andoni Iraola’s side drew 2-2 with both Newcastle United and Nottingham Forest before beating Ipswich Town 2-0 away from home.
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Away from Anfield, attention has also turned to those who left the club this summer in search of regular football.
Harvey Elliott was among them. The 23-year-old endured a difficult 2025-26 campaign on loan at Aston Villa, managing just nine appearances after Unai Emery’s side chose not to trigger an obligation-to-buy clause reportedly worth £35 million.
He returned to Liverpool for pre-season but was left out of the matchday squad entirely for Iraola’s first two Premier League games, against Newcastle and Forest, before completing a season-long loan to Valencia ahead of the summer transfer deadline.
He is under contract at Liverpool until 2028, meaning a strong campaign in Spain could put him back in Iraola’s thinking next summer, or open the door to a permanent move elsewhere.
His full debut for Carlos Corberan’s side came within days of his arrival, and not in the circumstances he would have hoped for.
Harvey Elliott made his first appearance for Valencia on Sunday in a 5-0 home defeat to Barcelona, and Spanish media did not hold back in their assessment of his performance and his new club.
Elliott was introduced off the bench in the 54th minute with Valencia already 3-0 down, following goals from Lamine Yamal, Fermin Lopez and Raphinha. Pedri and a second Yamal strike completed the rout before full time.
Superdeporte, the Valencia-based sports daily, was pointed in its criticism of Elliott’s fitness, awarding him a rating of five — matching Valencia’s highest mark on the day — while writing: “He’s slow and out of shape, but he has more quality than 99% of the players in the squad, and he showed it in that short time on the pitch.” The same assessment praised “a good long ball to Otorbi” after he came on.
AS turned its focus on Valencia as a whole, describing the club as “a side in a sorry state both on and off the pitch.”
Las Provincias was similarly scathing about the team’s display, writing that Barcelona “thrashed their opponents, strolled around, and thoroughly enjoyed themselves, and practically without much effort.”
Not every outlet was as harsh.
Mundo Deportivo took a more measured view of Elliott’s cameo, rating his second-half appearance as “consistent.”
Head coach Carlos Corberan defended his new arrivals after the game, saying Harvey Elliott and other recent signings “still need to adapt to the team.”
The result did little to ease tensions among Valencia’s own supporters.
Fans booed the team off after the final whistle, and protests broke out at the Mestalla, with chants directed at the board, owner Peter Lim, the players and Corberan.
Outside the stadium, club president Kiat Lim and Peter Lim were told to “go home,” while a group of supporters branded the players “mercenaries.”
Valencia sit bottom of La Liga with a single point from four matches.
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