Harvey Elliott, who is currently on loan at Aston Villa, was expected to return to Liverpool midway through the 2025/26 season after being sidelined by Unai Emery. The Spanish manager did not want to trigger the buy clause in his contract. As a result, he continued to train with the first team but was left out of their squad constantly.
While a return looked very likely, an interesting turn of events has changed Aston Villa’s stance regarding his future. According to a report from the BBC, Elliott is now set to continue at Villa Park amidst an injury crisis in their midfield.
Harvey Elliott, who came up the ranks at Liverpool and made quite a name for himself with his impressive performances in limited opportunities, ended up joining Aston Villa on loan last summer in search of a more prominent role.
The 22-year-old attacker’s move to Villa Park was not a straightforward loan deal; it includes a buy option based on certain conditions. After just a handful of games, Emery decided he did not want to make Elliott’s move permanent.
Post that, Elliott was never included in their matchday squad, resulting in talks about his future. However, theinjury crisis at Aston Villa has changed things up. With Boubacar Kamara ruled out for the rest of the season and both John McGinn and Youri Tielemans also sidelined, Elliott has featured in Aston Villa’s last two games after not playing since October 2.
He played the entire 90 minutes in their Europa League win over Red Bull Salzburg last week and was a second-half substitute in their 1-0 win over Brentford in the league. At this stage, he is only three appearances away from triggering a permanent transfer to Villa worth £35 million.
While Aston Villa were completely against making the move permanent, an injury crisis has left them with no other option. He is set to continue at Villa Park, and with Kamara, McGinn and Tielemans out injured, the buy obligation will certainly be triggered.
With the deal likely to be made permanent moving forward, Elliott will see the next few fixtures as an opportunity to establish himself as a key figure in the team under Emery, after missing out on a number of games in the first half.
