Liverpool star showed true colours with message to RMD ace after Salah incident

Harvey Elliott once turned down a chance to meet ex-Real Madrid captain Sergio Ramos out of respect for Liverpool teammate Mohamed Salah.

Elliott, 21, watched from the bench on Wednesday evening as his team defeated Los Blancos, when Arne Slot's rampant Reds defeated the fifteen-time Champions League winners 2-0. Before joining the Merseysiders in 2019, Elliott also featured for the Spanish giants.

Real Madrid did their best to lure him to the Bernabeu when he was widely regarded as one of the best youngsters in world football. At the time, Elliott was the then youngest player ever to play in the Premier League when he was brought off the bench by Fulham in a game against Wolverhampton Wanderers, aged 16 years and 30 days.

Los Blancos were so desperate to sign him that they even brought in Ramos to try and seal the deal for the young England U21 international. But with memories of the Spaniard wrestling Salah down and dislocating his shoulder in the 2018 Champions League final still fresh in the Liverpool supporter's mind, Elliott, who was then a teenager, refused to meet him.

When asked if the rumors that he disapproved of Ramos were true, Elliott told the Athletic in 2020: “Yes, that's true. I rejected it because of what he did to Mo.”

Elliott would join Liverpool for £4.3 million, a transfer fee that had to be agreed with the Professional Football Compensation Commission. Since then he has made 120 appearances for the Reds, contributing ten goals and fourteen assists.

The England U21 international has yet to impress under Slot this season after suffering a broken foot at the start of the season. He was fit enough to make the substitutes' bench for the win over Carlo Ancelotti's side, but played no part in the match.

In another world, Elliott could have appeared on Madrid's white strip at Anfield. But his love for the Merseysiders burned too deep and Elliott would never turn down an approach from the Reds.

In 2020, he also told the Athletic: “As a little kid I remember the buzz of walking up the steps inside the stand at Anfield, seeing the lights and seeing the players warming up – what a face. My heroes were Steven Gerrard and Luis Suarez.

“I loved watching them. My father was a big fan of Fernando Torres and we had a big poster of him in the house. My father and I always tried to do as many away games as possible.

“We had to tell a few lies to the school and my mother along the way! 'Make sure you get a nice hotel,' she would say. The place we stayed in Kiev in this run-down apartment building was terrible.

“But that's part of the fun of being a football fan: following your team wherever they go and the experiences you share with your friends and family. The result wasn't great, but the trip itself to Kiev was brilliant.”