Sheffield United have been dealt a knockout blow in their bid to bring Harvey Elliott to Bramall Lane this summer.

What's the talk?

That's according to a report by The Athletic, who claim that Liverpool will not be willing to allow the 18-year-old to leave the club on loan in the summer transfer window, as Jurgen Klopp will need cover for both Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane during the Africa Cup of Nations in January.

An earlier report had claimed that Slavisa Jokanovic was hoping the Reds would be happy to sanction the temporary departure of the versatile winger once again this summer, as the Serbian is considering a number of targets in a bid to improve his attacking options in his United squad.

Indeed, The Athletic state that the 52-year-old went as far as to make an enquiry with Liverpool regarding the availability of the England U19 international, although he was told that he will have to turn his attention in the transfer market elsewhere by the Premier League side.

Jokanovic will be gutted

With Jokanovic currently not possessing a player in his Sheffield United squad that is a natural option on either the left or right-wing, the positions certainly appear to be ones in which the manager must bring reinforcements in ahead of the upcoming Championship season.

And, with Elliott having flourished during a loan spell at Blackburn Rovers last season, the 18-year-old - whom Jokanovic gave his Fulham debut to as a 15-year-old back in 2018 - would very much look to have been the perfect signing for the Serbian manager this summer.

Indeed, over his 41 Championship appearances for Tony Mowbray's side last term, the £13.5m-rated youngster scored seven goals, provided 11 assists and created a whopping 14 big chances for his teammates, as well as taking an average of one shot and making 1.7 key passes per game.

These metrics saw the man Elliott Bennett dubbed an "unreal" player earn an average SofaScore match rating of 7.10, ranking him as Rover's third-best performer in the English second tier.

As such, the addition of Elliott would have undoubtedly helped to ease what is sure to be one of Jokanovic's biggest selection headaches ahead of United's opening fixture of the season against Birmingham City next week, and missing out on the £20k-per-week forward is sure to have left the 52-year-old gutted.

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