Last year it looked as though Harvey Elliott's Liverpool career was over, but he will be given a chance to prove his worth to Andoni Iraola when the Reds' pre-season preparations begin in July
13:09, 28 Jun 2026
Harvey Elliott will be given a chance to revive his Liverpool career
Harvey Elliott will be given a chance to revive his Liverpool career(Image: 2026 Robbie Jay Barratt - AMA)
Harvey Elliott is expected to be given a chance to revive his Liverpool career when pre-season preparations get underway in July.
Elliott's days as a Reds player appeared to be over when he joined Aston Villa last summer, but a disastrous loan spell in the Midlands ensured he would return to Anfield next month. Villa signed Elliott on an initial loan deal with an obligation to buy the player, on the condition that he made 10 appearances for the Villans over the course of the season.
It quickly became apparent that Villa manager Unai Emery was not convinced by Elliott, and he only played nine times, failing to even make the gameday squad on many occasions.
Had Arne Slot remained as Liverpool's head coach, the expectation would have been that Liverpool would have looked to find a new club for Elliott this summer.
But Slot's departure has opened up the possibility for Elliott to try and prove his worth to new boss Iraola, which is exactly what the Daily Mail's Lewis Steele expects to happen.
Steele told the Media Matters podcast that he had heard that Iraola is keen to have a good look at Elliott during the club's pre-season tour of the United States.
Andoni Iraola at Anfield
Andoni Iraola will run the rule over Elliott(Image: Andrew Powell, Liverpool FC via Getty Images)
Steele's intel tallies with what Iraola said during his first interview with club media upon his appointment as head coach earlier this month.
"For me, and I will tell them, [they] are all new signings," Iraola said when commenting on the players in his squad. "For me, you are all new signings and I think we have a lot of quality in our squad, and [I'm] really looking forward to working with them.
"I only had, I think, Milos (Kerkez) in the squad before – I know a couple, I've been talking to a couple before – but it will be lovely also to play again with Milos, try to improve him, try to help him in his development. Yeah, definitely looking forward to it."
Elliott is a Liverpool supporter, so it seems unlikely that he would have chosen to leave last year had he felt that there was any chance that he would be able to win Slot over.
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“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," Elliott said last September when it seemed as though his Liverpool career was over.
“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.”
The landscape has changed dramatically since Elliott's move to Villa, and Elliott's Liverpool prospects are now in Iraola's hands.