Everything we know about Harvey Elliott’s Aston Villa contract as Liverpool return mooted

Harvey Elliott represents a curious case at Aston Villa.

The Liverpool loanee was omitted from the squad last time out as Villa beat Manchester City 1-0 at Villa Park.

Unai Emery decided to leave the attacking midfielder out, despite Elliott being an anticipated Villa signing on deadline day.

The claret and blue faithful were surprised to see the number nine miss out, but Emery explained Elliott’s absence against City and remained transparent on the situation.

Details have now emerged regarding Elliott’s contract in B6 as his spell in the Midlands continues to deteriorate.

Harvey Elliott in Aston Villa's training kit
Credit: Imago

Harvey Elliott could still make Liverpool return

Villa are set to face Liverpool on Saturday in their next Premier League outing after a positive run of domestic results.

The summer signing won’t play a role for the Villans and will once again be missing from the squad, but this time due to his loan agreement.

Elliott is unable to play against his parent club and will watch on as Villa face off against Arne Slot’s men at Anfield.

This could represent an early return to Merseyside ahead of a potential move back to the Premier League champions next summer.

Harvey Elliott playing for Liverpool
Credit: Imago

Tom Collomosse reported on 31 October that the England under-21 international has to play a set number of games before Villa are obliged to sign him permanently.

Should he not reach this benchmark, the Midlands club won’t be forced to pay the agreed £35million fee, and the attacking midfielder could theoretically return to Anfield.

Arne Slot also struggled with Aston Villa loanee Elliott

Emery hasn’t been afraid of voicing his concerns with Elliott as he struggles to make a name for himself on loan in claret and blue.

The Englishman has started just one Premier League game, but was taken off at half-time after a generally quiet showing against Fulham.

Aston Villa Harvey Elliott stats vs Fulham
Credit: Manh Tung – Breaking Media

His issues have only gotten worse since then, and his game time problems have somewhat mirrored last year at Liverpool.

Slot struggled to fit the 22-year-old in and was candid in his review of that when he spoke out back in May.

He said: “Harvey is one of the players who hasn’t had as much playing time as he maybe deserves.

“Also partly because he was injured for a long time and I’ve been honest with him, the first part after he came back from his injury he wasn’t the same as he was before his injury.

It seems clear that the problem isn’t solely with Emery, but is bizarre nonetheless.

Enjoyed this article? Stay connected with all the latest Aston Villa news, updates, and behind-the-scenes content by following us on our new Instagram account – @villanews247