Harvey Elliott
Villa target? Liverpool's Harvey Elliott
Harvey Elliott revealed that he and Liverpool manager Arne Slot had held 'very honest conversations' about his Liverpool future in the second half of last season as he continues to be linked with a move to Aston Villa in the summer transfer window.
Midfielder Elliott, currently with the England under 21s at the European Championships in Slovakia, faces increased competition for a place in Slot's team after Liverpool signed £116m Florian Wirtz from Bayer Leverkusen.
Already behind Alexis MacAllister, Dominik Szboszlai, Ryan Gravenberch and even academy product Curtis Jones, Elliott's game time was limited in Slot's first, title-winning campaign in charge at Anfield and it has led to questions over where his long-term future lies if he cannot secure regular first-team football.
Recovering from a broken foot in the earlier parts of last season, Elliott was on the back foot upon recovering from injury. He often found himself an unused substitute or being handed restricted minutes from the bench, though there was the one highlight - in Paris when he netted a late winner in the first leg of the Champions League clash with PSG.
"Yes, we've had conversations," Elliott said of his relationship with Slot. "Very honest conversations and open conversations. It's down to me to put the work in, to be honest, and show him everything that he's told me. I'm trying to work on it, I'm trying to improve and I'm trying to get in this team.
"At the same time, I feel like I can't get too angry and frustrated because quite frankly the team is doing amazing. As I said, it's a team game. It's just not about me. I just need to make sure that I'm ready in moments where I can contribute. Just make sure I'm in the right mind frame to come on and influence the game.
"There are periods of time where I want to be playing and it's not happening, but it keeps me motivated and the hunger is still within me to go out and show what I can do and influence the game as much as I can.
"I think not only myself, but any football player would want to play each and every game. It's just not humanly possible, you just need to wait for your moments, just enjoy it and take the opportunity.
"I'm still young, it's a hard thing to understand in my head really. I've played 150 games for Liverpool and I feel like I'm very experienced in terms of that aspect.
"So there are moments within the season where I am getting angry, I am getting frustrated because I want to play, but at the same time I need to respect the situation, I need to respect the manager's decisions. Some games I'm needed, some games I'm not."
Slot himself delivered a rather frank assessment of where Elliott was in his pecking order towards the back end of last season, admitting that the 22-year-old hadn't hit the heights he'd previously managed before his injury and that, in turn, reduced his chances of breaking into what was a well oiled and winning starting XI.
“I think first of all it’s very important that players who are here with us would like to stay, that’s a bit compliment to everyone working here,” he said at a press conference towards the end of the season.
“Harvey is one of the players who hasn’t had as much playing time as he maybe deserves, but like some others he’s in competition with so many good players that mainly I’ve chosen. 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.
“The last few months he’s back to his old level again. There was no need for me to start with different players, but I think if you look at the amount of minutes that he had in the last one or two months and the time before, you can see it goes up already. So that tells you that we like, I like, him more now than I did the first months when he came back from his injury.”
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adidas Aston Villa range - how to get yours!
Aston Villa have announced that they are selling a new range of fashion items that fans are going to be clamouring to get hold of ahead of the new season - including a limited edition of the iconic adidas Samba range.
The Villa colours are displayed on the trainers and they also show off the Villa badge. You can get your pair here
You can also find an adidas DNA hoody which comes in simple Villa colours and a low key traditional adidas design. That can be bought here
The same design can be found on classic adidas track top on offer, this is the type of track top that fans love to wear - that can be bought here
The DNA range continues with a claret and blue t-shirt - found here, and on the training pants which can also be matched with any of the items -