Harvey Elliott reflects on the emotional decision he made to leave Liverpool for Aston Villa on transfer deadline day, admitting he simply had to make the move for his career
Harvey Elliott of Aston Villa
Harvey Elliott says he will always love Liverpool after leaving the Reds for Aston Villa
(Image: Robbie Jay Barratt - AMA/Getty Images)
Harvey Elliott says his love of Liverpool "is going to be there forever" as the midfielder opened up on the emotional decision to leave for Aston Villa at the start of the month. And Elliott conceded he had to be "selfish" when choosing to depart from Anfield after falling down the pecking order following the arrival of Arne Slot last year.
The England Under-21 star left Anfield for Villa Park on transfer deadline day, completing a loan switch with a £35m obligation to make it permanent at the end of the campaign.
Elliott, who made 149 appearances during his six years on Merseyside, played around 20 minutes for his new club on Saturday as they drew 0-0 with Everton at Hill Dickinson Stadium and the 22-year-old reflected on making the call to move away from his boyhood club on September 1.
"Yeah it was very difficult [to leave]," Elliott said. "First of all the decision to leave and then on top of that to find the best club.
"There were a few difficult decisions I had to make. I had to sit down and speak to the team and go into a lot of detail, but it was the decision that was made and the decision was to come here.
"I’m over the moon. As I said in that interview [when I signed], I’m so happy to be here and I really want to kick on, to get this club where they deserve.
"With this team, anything is possible and we just need to fight together and keep going.
"I mean for me, I loved every minute of it; every second, every day. I wouldn’t change it to be honest, I learned so much from being there and experienced many things.
"But I think the most important thing for me when I was making the decision was to be playing first-team football.
"I need to be in a team where I’m getting regular minutes.
"Whether that’s starting or coming off the bench, just having that feeling of going into a matchday knowing you’re going to play, that’s the only way I can improve now.
"The love I have for Liverpool is still going to be there forever, that’s not going to change, I’m still going to be watching and looking out for them from afar.
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"I’m wishing them all the very best.
"But sometimes in football you need to be selfish. I made the decision to leave because I wanted to do what’s best for me.
"I take all of my experiences and everything I learnt from Liverpool.
"Hopefully I can start to kick on now."