Unai Emery has confirmed that Aston Villa won’t be signing on-loan midfielder Harvey Elliott permanently from Liverpool.
Elliott, who was instrumental in England’s U21 Euros success over the summer, moved to Villa Park for a season-long loan on deadline day in September as he looked to secure regular game time.
The 22-year-old was restricted to just 360 minutes of Premier League action in Arne Slot’s debut season at the Liverpool helm, while the high-profile capture of Florian Wirtz pushed the young Englishman further down the pecking order.
A move to RB Leipzig was mooted, but Elliott opted to remain in the Premier League and secured a switch to Villa earlier in the year.
Elliott's loan spell has been a disaster
However, Elliott’s spell in the Midlands has been nothing short of a disaster having last featured for the Villans against Feyenoord in the Europa League back in October.
The youngster has made five appearances for Villa this season, and just two starts, one of which was cut short as after he was replaced at half time in the 3-1 win over Fulham at the end of September.
Elliott needs to make 10 appearances for Villa to trigger a £35m moved to Emery’s side, but having been left in Birmingham for Thursday’s Europa League meeting with FC Basel, the Spaniard has revealed that the Liverpool man won’t be signed permanently.
Emery confirms Elliott decision
“We are speaking with him and about his situation. He is not here with us,” Emery said ahead of Thursday’s game with the Swiss side.
“First, my decision and also the situation. He is on loan playing with us, but he is not definitely adding to us with a permanent contract.
“Hopefully we can get the best for him and the best for us. I respect him as a player and as a person. He is training well, but we have one circumstance with him.
“Hopefully we can get a solution for him to try to play consistently and try to continue in his career with us or not.”
England U21 Euros hero hampered by FIFA rules
Elliott has already featured for two teams this season having played in the Community Shield defeat to Crystal Palace and again in Liverpool’s 3-2 win at Newcastle in August before his move to Villa.
FIFA regulations state that players are only able to play for two teams in a season, which leaves Elliott in a precarious position.
Villa are looking to earn an eighth successive win when they face Basel on Thursday night having extended their impressive streak with a late 2-1 victory over Arsenal on Saturday.
The win over the Premier League leaders means Villa have won 13 of their last 15 matches in all competitions, with one of the two defeats in that run incidentally coming at Liverpool
