Harvey Elliott expected return date as Liverpool star could miss 10 games with broken foot

Liverpool star Harvey Elliot has been ruled out until late October after breaking his foot whilst away on England Under-21s duty .

On Wednesday it emerged the 21-year-old's withdrawal from the Young Lions squad last week had been due to experiencing discomfort in his foot, which later turned out to be fractured during a training session.

The Times reports Elliot will be out until late October, which could see Liverpool be without the talented attacking midfielder for as many as 10 games. And that will be a source of frustration for Arne Slot, who likely would have given Elliot more minutes in their upcoming games due to their fixture heavy schedule

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While Elliot has only played seven minutes off the bench for Liverpool this season, with his sole cameo coming against Brentford in a game the Reds won 2-0, things are set to ramp up for Slot and co when they return following the international break.

Elliot will miss this weekend's game against Nottingham Forest at Anfield, and also their midweek clash next week against AC Milan at San Siro. Then, just a few days after the midweek tie with Milan, Elliot will also sit out games against Bournemouth, and West Ham United in the Carabao Cup, a clash he almost certainly would have started.

And he will also not be available against Wolves, Bologna and Crystal Palace before the Reds break again for the October international break. When they return, they have games against Chelsea and RB Leipzig to deal with before taking on Arsenal at the Emirates on October 27th, which should be around the time for Elliot to be edging back into contention for the Reds following his foot injury.

With Slot having adopted a 4-2-3-1 formation over Jurgen Klopp's 4-3-3 this term, Elliot's chances of playing in central midfield would have been slim even if he had been fit. He would likely have gotten some minutes off the bench potentially on the right-wing had the Reds not signed Federico Chiesa on deadline day, meaning Elliot would probably have served as Dominik Szoboszlai's replacement when the Hungarian needed to be rotated.

Thankfully, Liverpool has plenty of attacking options, but there's no doubt they are a weaker squad without Elliot, who could have played a big part in the Reds first half of the season off the bench.

Liverpool.com says: "Losing Elliot is a blow for Liverpool and Slot, who will have wanted to see what he could do in his new system in competitive action. He impressed during pre-season, but with Szoboszlai having started the season strongly, has found himself on the bench behind the Hungarian."