Harvey Elliott knows exactly what to do to avoid being sent back to Liverpool by Villa | Football | Sport

Harvey Elliott has struggled for game time since joining Aston Villa on loan from Liverpool in the summer. But the attacker knows exactly what has to happen for him to remain at Villa Park beyond the end of the campaign.

Elliott racked up 149 appearances for the Reds after joining the club from Fulham in 2019. The 22-year-old featured 34 times in the Premier League during Jurgen Klopp’s final season at Anfield but fell out of favour under Arne Slot as Liverpool romped to the title last term. And he was shipped off to the west Midlands on transfer deadline day in the summer.

Elliott has started just two matches for Villa, with the first of those coming against Brentford in the Carabao Cup in mid-September and the second of those coming in a Premier League clash with Fulham two weeks later.

But the talented ace was hooked at half-time against the Cottagers and hasn’t played in the Premier League since.

He remained on the bench against Burnley and Tottenham and was left out of Villa’s matchday squad altogether when Manchester City visited the west Midlands on Sunday.

Elliott has endured a miserable start to his Villa career and has made it onto the pitch just five times under Unai Emery.

But he will remain with the club on a permanent basis if he makes at least another five appearances before the end of May as Villa have a clause that would leave them obligated to buy him for £35million should he make 10 appearances across the whole campaign.

If the player doesn’t make 10 appearances, Emery will be able to send him back to Liverpool, where he could find game time even harder to come by.

Elliott has been left red-faced by Emery’s latest snub after stating when he signed for Villa: “It feels incredible. Playing for a massive club like Aston Villa is every kid’s dream.

“For me now, it’s about kicking on as a player. The only way to do that is to play games and there’s no better place to do that than here, especially with the manager, his philosophy, the way he plays and his trust in younger players.”

Emery, meanwhile, explained the player’s lack of match action ahead of his side’s clash with Manchester City as he said: “Harvey is a 10 number in our structure, in our shape, and he plays some matches and there is still adaptation to add himself individually in our structure, the task we have.

“Of course, he is training well, and his commitment is being very well as well, but his performance was not enough [up to this point].”