Harvey Elliott felt he was not given enough opportunity by Arne Slot, last summer it ended with a loan to Aston Villa, where a mandatory purchase clause is made active when the 22-year-old has played 10 games. There were never ten, but nine games. Villa manager Unai Emery made sure of that. In January, it was a desperate Elliot who wanted to return to Liverpool for the rest of the season, that door was not opened. Now Liverpool’s former jewel returns to Anfield, but for what?
This has to be the most chaotic rental stay in the Premier League in recent years. According to The Athletic , Elliott was desperate to call off his miserable stay at Villa Park and return to Liverpool for the rest of the season. However, the complexity of the loan deal signed last summer turned out to be the 22-year-old’s missed opportunities. The agreement did not include a standard revocation clause that Liverpool could unilaterally activate. Instead, if the deal ended early, Aston Villa would have been required to pay a fee to cancel the contract.
READ: Guardiola replacement should get ready
Villa, who already cover the player’s salary, were understandably unwilling to pay a “premium” to get rid of a player they now don’t want. Conversely, Liverpool stood firm and refused to waive the fee to facilitate his return to Anfield. As the clock ticked down on Deadline Day, Elliott waited for a compromise between the two Premier League giants that never materialised, leaving him stranded at a club where the manager has explicitly said he doesn’t want him.
On Thursday, Elliot is again a topic at Arne Slot’s press conference.
“For himself, for everyone, this did not go as planned. Not for him, not for Liverpool and not for Aston Villa. Usually you bring in a player on loan to use him. This does not happen very often. I’m not the right person to explain why it has become like this. But of course, it is never lucky that this happens to a player. He went there to play more, which was not the case,” Slot said at Thursday’s press conference.
Read on F7: What is really happening with the sale of the San Siro? Leaks and alleged bid fraud are under investigation
Liverpool confirm that the Englishman will appear for pre-season with Liverpool after the summer break. What this will bring Elliot, with his contract until 2027 and with no prospect of playing time at Slot, that is the big question.
