Harvey Elliott is nearing the end of his frustrating season on loan at Aston Villa, where he has barely played due to a clause in his deal with Liverpool.
Unai Emery has admitted that Harvey Elliott’s wasted season on loan at Aston Villa is “embarrassing for everyone involved”. Elliott has barely played during his loan spell from Liverpool due to a clause in the deal between the two clubs.
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The 23-year-old midfielder moved to Villa Park to get more regular game time, but has still only made nine appearances across all competitions for Aston Villa this season. He has played four of them in the Premier League – a total of just 109 minutes.
The reason is that Villa will have to buy him permanently from Liverpool for £35 million if he reaches ten league games. Back in February, Villa manager Emery accused Liverpool of “harming” Elliott with the terms of the loan deal.
Ahead of Friday’s Premier League game against Liverpool, Emery spoke out again. Now he has apologized to Elliott and apportioned the blame to several parties.
“It’s something embarrassing for everyone involved. My apology to Harvey Elliott is on my mind every single day,” he said.
“But it’s about responsibility. We have our responsibility, and Liverpool has its responsibility. As a person and as a person, the season has been tough.
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Arne Slot on the situation
Liverpool manager Arne Slot also addressed the topic in his pre-match press conference, where he confirmed that Elliott will return to the club in the summer to take part in pre-season.
“I think for him – and for everyone’s part – it didn’t work out the way he wanted, the way we wanted and probably not the way Villa wanted either. Usually you pick up a player, or bring him in on loan, to use him,” said Slot.
“Not much has happened. It is not up to me to answer why this is so. But of course, it’s never nice for a player not to get a lot of minutes, especially after the season he had with us, where he – I guess – got even more minutes than those 280.
“He went there to get more playing time, but unfortunately that didn’t happen. For such a talented player who did so well at the European Under-21 Championship last summer, you want a player like that to get more and more playing time.
“He went to a very, very good team, which also has a lot of good players. I don’t know why he hasn’t gotten the minutes he expected. It’s not up to me to answer.
“But it’s always a shame when a player hardly plays for two years, especially a player of that age who has shown during the U21 European Championship that he is such a good player.
The road ahead for Elliott
Liverpool refused to call Elliott back in the January window, and it seems unlikely that they will change their view of his future. The England Under-21 star’s contract with Liverpool runs until June 2027, but a summer transfer still seems likely when his Villa nightmare is finally over.
Conceivably this is some kind of pre-season from Unai Emery’s side. Aston Villa welcome Liverpool to Villa Park tomorrow Friday.
