Harvey Elliott has endured a nightmare stint at Aston Villa after joining the Midlands club on loan from Liverpool last summer, but his professionalism remains unquestioned
12:43, 05 Feb 2026
Liverpool's Harvey Elliott has played just seven times for Aston Villa
Liverpool's Harvey Elliott has played just seven times for Aston Villa(Image: 2026 Aston Villa FC)
Harvey Elliott has been impressing Aston Villa coaches with his application during training sessions – despite the nightmare season he is enduring in the Midlands.
Elliott joined Villa on a season-long loan deal last summer, with the deal including an obligation for Villa to make the move permanent on the condition that the player made 10 appearances in all competitions.
He made five appearances for Villa in the opening few weeks of the season, but was then exiled for several months due to Unai Emery's reservations over the player. Emery admitted at the beginning of January that he hadn't been playing Elliott because he didn't want to trigger the compulsory buy option in the loan agreement.
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Elliott returned to Villa's squad recently and made substitute appearances against RB Salzburg and Brentford, to take his appearance tally for the Villans up to seven.
However, Villa's stance on Elliott's future is believed to remain unchanged, leaving the player in an uncertain position with several months of the season remaining.
Former Premier League player and manager Stuart Pearce revealed that he has spoken to people at Villa about the situation, and said that they have had nothing but positive things to say about the Liverpool loanee.
Harvey Elliott seems unlikely to stay at Aston Villa beyond the summer
Harvey Elliott seems unlikely to stay at Aston Villa beyond the summer
“I really feel for Harvey Elliot because, you know, you speak to people at Villa and they’ve only got positive things to say about him in terms of his attitude and application in training every day,” Pearce told talkSPORT.
“It’s just really unfortunate that for whatever reason Emery doesn’t seem to fancy him, doesn’t want Villa to have to pay the 35 million pounds that’s written into the agreement if he plays 10 or more appearances for Villa this season. So he’s stuck in limbo.”
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There may be some good news around the corner for Elliott after it was reported earlier this week that Villa and Liverpool are set for talks to renegotiate the terms of the loan agreement.
The current situation helps neither club, as it leaves Villa without the chance to use a player that it is paying, and it leaves Liverpool with a player whose value will only diminish if he does not play.
The most likely outcome would seemingly be for the compulsory buy clause to be removed from the deal, allowing Emery to use Elliott more freely without the consequence of having to sign him permanently.