Harvey Elliott left Liverpool in the summer to join Aston Villa on a loan deal with an obligation to buy
Harvey Elliott arriving for an Aston Villa game
Harvey Elliott is struggling for game time at Aston Villa on loan from Liverpool
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It's fair to say that Harvey Elliott's season has not gone to plan for anyone affected by the transfer. Whether that be Liverpool, Aston Villa or Elliott himself, the move has not turned out as many would have hoped for as things stand.
Liverpool agreed to loan Elliott to Villa for the season, with the deal also including an obligation to buy worth £35 million. However, this clause would only become active if the 22-year-old were to make a certain number of appearances for Villa this term, with reports suggesting that it would need to be ten for the clause to come into effect.
Elliott has only made five appearances for Villa this season and has not featured in any of the club's last seven Premier League matches. Most recently, the Liverpool loanee was not included in the matchday squad for Villa's 1-0 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers on Sunday.
Unai Emery has not named Elliott in any of the last five Premier League matchday squads for Villa, but the playmaker has been on the bench for Europa League games this term. Despite this, the minutes Elliott is currently getting is not benefiting anyone.
This has fuelled rumours linking Elliott with a move away from Villa during the January transfer window. It remains to be seen if there is a break clause included in the loan agreement but, even if there is, it still would take a lot for the deal to be called off completely.
Given Elliott has already played for both Liverpool and Villa this season, he would not be able to join another club in January even if every party wanted that to happen.
As a result, Elliott's only option is to either remain at Villa for the season or return to Anfield and hopefully get more minutes.
Whether Villa will actually want to pay the £35m obligated fee to sign Elliott next summer is unclear, but it seems that the Liverpool loanee does not feature in Emery's plans as things stand. Only time will tell if that will change over Christmas and the New Year, with an intense fixture schedule ahead.
Liverpool will have been keeping an eye on Elliott's progress at Villa, even if they were expecting that 22-year-old to leave on a permanent basis next summer.
Now that there is a realistic chance that the clause never gets activated, it could leave the Reds with a big decision to make, as well as the player.
If Elliott pushes for a move away from Villa in January, the only solution would be for the player to return to Arne Slot's squad and help the Reds enjoy a successful season half of the season.
However, a lot has to happen to make that a reality.