Harvey Elliott has found himself the centre of debate in Spain while on loan from Liverpool to Valencia
Harvey Elliott, on loan to Valencia from Liverpool, looks on from the bench prior to the LaLiga match against Real Sociedad on September 20 2026
Harvey Elliott, on loan to Valencia from Liverpool, looks on from the bench prior to the LaLiga match against Real Sociedad on September 20 2026(Image: Manuel Queimadelos/Quality Sport Images/Getty Images)
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Harvey Elliott would be forgiven for thinking he'd spent the best part of the last two years walking under a ladder. How else to explain the misfortune the Liverpool man continues to encounter in his attempts to kickstart a spluttering career?
A change of scenery at the start of the month with a move to Valencia has instead prompted more of the same. Elliot made his debut from the bench as the Spanish side were thumped 5-0 at home by champions Barcelona in La Liga, and within a fortnight the coach who brought him to the Mestalla, Carols Corberan, was unceremoniously axed.
Now Elliott must impress a new boss, with the veteran Javier Aguirre - most recently in charge of the Mexico national team and who went viral for his World Cup touchline exchange with England's Anthony Gordon - having this week taken over.
"There's a lot of work to do," Aguirre said on his unveiling on Thursday. "There's still a long way to go in the league, but there are things that need to be done."
Elliott will hope for more action having made three substitute appearances totalling 85 minutes thus far for Valencia, all of which have ended in defeat.
The only game during that spell in which he was unused was the 1-0 win at Alaves which ensures Valencia are not rock bottom of La Liga, instead standing a point and a place above Malaga.
It hasn't helped that Elliott didn't arrive in optimum physical shape, a point the local press have been quick to pick up on given the ongoing extended international break offers an opportunity to address the issue.
But it's hardly a shock. Since the end of the 2023/24 season, Elliott has started only nine games out of the 103 for which he has been available, and has been in a Premier League XI on only three occasions during that period. Any player would struggle with match sharpness after so long on the sidelines.
The warning signs were perhaps there during the closing weeks of Jurgen Klopp's reign in May 2024, when the departing Liverpool boss declared: "If I regret one thing a little bit it’s that Harvey didn’t play often enough maybe, because in a very important, intense period – January, a lot of injuries – he played really good.
"He was probably our best player, right wing, right midfield, all these kinds of things. Everybody came back and he had minutes here, minutes there and he didn’t start anymore."
Elliott actually featured in some capacity in 53 games that campaign, and started the last four Premier League matches. But the arrival of Arne Slot and the insistence the versatile midfielder was now being seen primarily as a number 10 did Elliott few favours with Dominik Szoboszlai locking down the role as Liverpool strolled to the championship.
Then came the nightmare of his season on loan at Aston Villa, when Unai Emery soon determined Elliott was not in his long-term plans and subsequently compelled not to give the player the outings that would trigger the obligation of a £35million permanent transfer.
That said, he was the only Liverpool player to win a major trophy last term as a non-playing substitute in Villa's Europa League final triumph over Freiburg, but featured for precisely zero minutes in the last two months of the season.
Now the ex-England Under-21 international, who is still only 23 but has made almost 150 appearances for the Reds, must impress a sixth different manager in less than four years if he is to drag his career back on track.
While Elliott still has almost two years remaining on his Anfield contract, few would be surprised if he has played his last game for the club, although there will be some solace in him having previously secured his place in an exclusive club of players - Conor Bradley is another - to have departed Liverpool on loan and returned to become first-team squad regulars.
Now Elliott s going to have to do it all over again. Certainly, it's time fortune turned in his favour.