Liverpool starlet Harvey Elliott has revealed he still swears by the diet advice given to him by team-mate Mohamed Salah.
The midfielder, who joined the Reds aged 16, has grown into a key part of Jurgen Klopp's first team squad. After a breakout season was disrupted by an ankle injury, the England under-21 international and Golden Boy nominee has shown his value for last season's Premier League runners-up.
Elliott, who came through the ranks at Fulham before moving to Anfield, has benefited from being able to learn from Champions League and Premier League winners. And Salah, who recently signed a new big-money contract with Liverpool, has given the Englishman some valuable advice.
“To have these players here and the chance to learn from them is amazing,” Elliott told The Times. “They all want me to do well and are giving me pointers, for example Mo [Salah] with the bread. I have taken it on board.
“My breakfast is mainly bread with beans or avocado. I did eat bread in the morning, but that was white bread. Now I have changed it to brown bread which is a lot healthier.
“He is not someone to say, ‘You need to be doing this, you need to be doing that.’ He is more of a guy who helps you out and gives you pointers, and you go away and think about it."
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Elliott, who has also spent time on loan at Blackburn Rovers, admitted he took time to warm to the advice. However, after taking it on board, he has grown into his midfield role and scored his first Premier League goal in a victory over Bournemouth this season.
“Now it is always in my head," the 19-year-old continued. "At the time I was thinking, ‘What is he on about? I’m just having breakfast!’
"But looking back there are so many things you can change in your diet and it is just about the small margins. That is a prime example of what he is like.”
With club captain Jordan Henderson returning from injury, Elliott hasn't started since before the international break. He has featured from the bench in each of Liverpool's last two games, though, earning minutes against Brighton and Rangers, and could feature from the start at Arsenal after manager Klopp made reference to his team's unpredictability.
"For us, it's more important we become unpredictable again so we need different systems for that as well," the German said in his pre-match press conference."We can name different systems. We have to choose which one is the best for us against next opponent. We have to be more unpredictable,
"Teams have worked out how to play against us when we're not at our best. Teams figured us out years ago but it still didn't work [for them] because we were exceptional. Whatever system we play, there's no system in the world with no weakness. It's about how we perform."
