Harvey Elliott is stuck in a rut at Aston Villa, who won’t play him due to a clause in the loan agreement with Liverpool, which Unai Emery has now publicly urged the club to remove
Aston Villa manager Unai Emery has accused Liverpool of “damaging” Harvey Elliott, with the terms of his loan deal to blame for his wasted season. Elliott has barely featured on loan for Villa this season and Emery believes his hands are effectively tied by Liverpool’s demands.
The 22-year-old midfielder joined Villa on a season-long loan in September hoping to play regularly after struggling for game time during Liverpool’s Premier League-winning 2024/25 campaign. But his temporary switch to Villa has become a nightmare, with just seven appearances coming so far.
That is because Villa will have to fork out £35million to sign Elliott permanently should he reach 10 appearances this season. Emery has therefore left him on the sidelines, with a rare appearance against Red Bull Salzburg in a dead rubber Europa League game on January 29 his first game in three months.
The Villa manager sympathises with Elliott, who has remained professional, and has now publicly appealed to Liverpool to remove the obligation to buy clause in the loan agreement after months of talks behind the scenes didn’t have the desired effect.
