'Embarrassing' - Unai Emery fires Liverpool clear message over Harvey Elliott loan saga
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Harvey Elliott is nearing the end of his frustrating season on loan at Aston Villa, where he has barely featured due to a clause in the agreement with LiverpoolUnai Emery has admitted that Harvey Elliott's wasted season on loan at Aston Villa is "embarrassing for everyone involved". He has made four of those appearances in the Premier League, totalling just 109 minutes of action.That is due to the fact that Villa would have to sign him permanently from Liverpool for £35million if he reached 10 league appearances.
Back in February, Villa manager Emery accused Liverpool of "damaging" Elliott with the terms of the loan agreement.Speaking ahead of their Premier League game against Liverpool on Friday night, Emery has now apologised to Elliott and spread the blame out. As a human and as a person, how the season has gone has been difficult.”Liverpool manager Arne Slot also addressed the subject in his pre-match press conference, in which he confirmed Elliott will return to the club over the summer for pre-season."I think for him, for everyone, it didn’t work out as he wanted it, as we wanted it and probably also how Villa wanted it, because you usually sign a player or bring him in on loan to use him," Slot said.“That hasn’t happened a lot.
But of course, it’s never nice for a player not to make so many minutes, especially after the season he had with us, where he made – I assume – even more minutes with us than these 280.“He went over there to get more playing time, but unfortunately that didn’t happen. That’s not for me to answer.“But it’s always a pity if a player hardly plays for two years, let alone a player of that age that has shown during the [U21] Euros that he’s such a good player.”Liverpool refused to recall Elliott in the January transfer window and it seems unlikely that they will change their mind over his future.