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Despite links to Liverpool in recent months, Schuurs sees his immediate future at the Dutch club.

Ajax centre half Perr Schuurs has been linked with Liverpool over the past few months, and the 21-year-old impressing in both of his club’s Champions League group stage defeats to Jürgen Klopp’s Reds has only added to the chatter.

However, the Dutch youngster was quick to downplay any chance that he could be headed to England, at least in the immediate future, when asked about the Liverpool rumours following Ajax’s 1-0 defeat at Anfield on Tuesday evening.

“I hear and read it too,” said Schuurs of the recent transfer talk. “But this is my first season as a regular player at Ajax, so first I want to play here for a few more seasons and win prizes. I’m not really thinking about that yet.”

Ajax has in recent seasons established itself as perhaps Europe’s premier stepping-stone club, an organization that excels at developing players—and where both club and players are honest that, long-term, they will be heading elsewhere.

There is, though, more often than not patience. At least a few seasons spent at the storied Amsterdam club and a few domestic trophies won. And for Schuurs, who only played four senior games before this season, it is indeed early.

While Liverpool’s defensive injury crisis may have pushed up the timeline on bringing in a centre half—and has certainly made the fans push for that—the reality is that while Schuurs will leave Ajax, it probably won’t be in January.

Gini Wijnaldum revealed the Reds haven’t been training like normal due to the congested fixture list.

In the midst of an injury crisis and playing two or even three games some weeks with little hope for respite on the horizon, Liverpool have largely abandoned any kind of high-intensity training between matches in an effort to cope.

That’s the revelation this week from veteran midfielder Gini Wijnaldum, one of manager Jürgen Klopp’s three fit senior midfielders at the moment and a player who started the last four games in a punishing ten day run for the Reds.

“I’m blessed to stay fit during this period,” Wijnaldum noted. “I hope I can hold on until the end of the season. It’s really just playing matches and resting at the moment. There’s not really any training because there’s not a lot of time.”

Not much time and with no lessening of the fixture load as the club head into the holiday run—congested in any year but this time around simply a continuation of the kind of busy schedule they’ve faced in October and November.

However, a little rest—and maybe even a few training sessions—could be on the horizon thanks to Tuesday’s Champions League victory that clinches first in their group and should mean no key players face FC Midtjylland next week.

“I think Ajax has played two very good matches, but of course you can see that we are very grown up,” Wijnaldum said of Tuesday’s European clincher for the Reds against the storied Dutch side. “I think that’s why we won the matches.

“In the Premier League you play such matches more often, then you have to be very mature to win them, even if you don’t play well. We did that twice against Ajax.”

Midfield says help.

According to Ian Doyle of the Liverpool Echo, both James Milner and Xherdan Shaqiri are doubtful to play against Wolverhamption Wanderers on Sunday. Milner picked up an injury against Brighton over the weekend, while Shaqiri has been missing in action since a couple of impressive cameo appearances at the start of the season. We continue to be short in the middle of the park, as Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Thiago Alcantara continue their rehabilitation. Unless Fabinho moves into midfield, or Naby Keita shrugs off his current injury… we should see Gini Wijnaldum continue his astounding one-man Iron Man tribute act, along with Jordan Henderson and Curtis Jones in midfield. The captain has just recovered from an injury during the last international break, so that’s something to keep an eye on.

Alisson has of course been ruled out for about two weeks. Caoimhin Kelleher’s impressive performance against Ajax should see him remain in goal… if not, Adrian’s available too.

In defence, continuity should take precedence, especially with a five-day rest until the Wolves game. Fabinho and Joel Matip should be patrolling our box, with Nat Phillips and Rhys Williams available to deputise. Andy Robertson’s ankle looked it was bothering him a bit, so Kostas Tsimikas could come in at left-back. Trent Alexander-Arnold is apparently expected to return to training this week, however the expectation is that Neco Williams to continue to fill in until the former is declared fit. The backups should all get some run next week, with the result of the away fixture at FC Midtjylland inconsequential to Liverpool FC’s position.

Attack is where the shelves are truly well-stocked. Diogo Jota should be chomping at the bit to play against his old team, while Roberto Firmino got a nice rest against Ajax. Mane and Salah are both fit, so maybe Jürgen Klopp throws all them into the starting eleven. Takumi Minamino and Divock Origi are both available to step in if needed.

A left-footed rocket into the top corner.

From the day he first stepped onto the pitch wearing a Liverpool FC jersey, Harvey Elliot has always looked like he belonged. Here was a literal boy, taking it fearlessly to grown men on every possession. In the spot minutes he was given at Liverpool, Harvey Elliot has looked very bit the special player he was described to be. This season, Liverpool sent Elliot on loan to Blackburn Rovers to gain some first-team experience in the Championship. The flashes of brilliance have been constant, with Harvey becoming a regular starter for Blackburn. And then yesterday, he did this:

A first-time left footed screamer into the corner of the net. Yes, I think that means you can flex on them, lad. Harvey Elliot now has two goals and three assists in the Championship, which aren’t crazy numbers on paper, until you realise this is a seventeen year old playing his first full senior season of football. The development is going as planned, and I for one, can’t wait until that little ponytail is back showing off his trickery for us in a red jersey again.

The Dutch defender claims he’s not thinking about leaving Ajax just yet.

Perr Schuurs is one of the many central defenders that has been linked to Liverpool since Virgil van Dijk’s knee injury early this season. Though, the sources attesting to Liverpool’s interest in the young Dutchman are dubious at best.

However, even if the rumours are hard to believe, it should come as no surprise that there is more speculation about the possibility of the 20-year-old making a January move to Anfield after his display against the Reds last night.

Schuurs was given the very tough job of leading Ajax’s high line against Liverpool’s dangerous front three, and he mostly looked fit for the job as he stopped a number of promising Liverpool attacks with his impressive recovery speed and last second tackling.

The rumours were addressed in an interview Schuurs did with Dutch TV station SBS6, with the young center-half admitting he is aware of the links to Liverpool. However, he immediately expressed his desire to stay at Ajax and win.

“I hear and read it [the rumours] too,” said Schuurs. “It’s my first season as a regular at Ajax. I want to play here for a few more seasons and win prizes. I’m not really working on that yet.”

He then pivoted away from the transfer talk to speak about his disappointment with the Liverpool loss in spite of his strong performance.

“We come here for three points, but we don’t get them. We have created enough chances and [should have] earned at least one point,” Schurrs lamented. “It was good, especially in the first half. Of course, I get a yellow card.”

“Then it becomes a bit more wait and see, that is a factor in your head. Personally, I can look back on a good game, but I am disappointed that we did not get more.”

Takumi Minamino’s performance against Liverpool for Red Bull Salzburg last year was reportedly a factor in the Japanese forward’s eventual transfer to Merseyside, so there is some recent precedent for Liverpool signing a player thanks, in part, to their performance against the Reds.

However, with no concrete links from sources connected to either Liverpool or Ajax, and with Schuurs himself saying his plan is to stay in Amsterdam to continue winning and developing his game, there’s still not much reason to believe this transfer is likely at this time.