FIFA should change their rules after what's happened to ‘loyal’ Liverpool player - opinion
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Use the comment button on the bottom left to have your say Marc Guehi has been linked with a winter switch following Liverpool’s failed transfer attempt earlier in 2025.Antoine Semenyo is an option with his release clause set to become active from the start of January.Elsewhere, Harvey Elliott could end up back at Anfield after his Aston Villa loan spell.Harvey Elliott could be stuck in limbo at Liverpool thanks to FIFA ruleThe versatile Englishman joined Villa on loan in the summer with the view of securing a permanent transfer following 10 Premier League appearances.However, Elliott has been an outcast in the Midlands this season, and as Unai Emery has explained via BBC Sport, he will not be joining them permanently.He said: “We are speaking with him and about his situation. He is not here with us.
He is on loan playing with us, but he is not definitely adding to us with a permanent contract.“Hopefully we can get the best for him and the best for us. He is training well, but we have one circumstance with him.
Hopefully we can get a solution for him to try to play consistently and try to continue in his career with us or not.”Photo by Shaun Brooks – CameraSport via Getty ImagesIt leaves Elliott in a tricky situation, as whether he remains at Villa or returns to Liverpool, his season seems to be largely over.The 22-year-old played just seven minutes of football for the Reds before his exit, one minute versus Newcastle United in the Premier League and six against Crystal Palace in the Community Shield.However, despite hardly featuring for Liverpool this term, FIFA rules dictate that while he can register for another club in 2025/26, he is ineligible to feature:“Players may be registered with a maximum of three clubs during one season. Use the comment button on the bottom left to have your say Mohamed Salah praised Elliott’s loyalty when he left the club earlier this year, but Slot clearly didn’t see him as a regular starter, and that’s unlikely to have changed after the first half of 2024/25.There may, however, be one potential solution to the player’s woes.FIFA rules explain that: “As an exception to this rule [players only being able to feature for two teams], a player moving between two clubs belonging to associations with overlapping seasons (i.e. start of the season in summer/autumn as opposed to winter/spring) may be eligible to play in official matches for a third club during the relevant season, provided he has fully complied with his contractual obligations towards his previous clubs.”So, it may be possible for Elliott to sign for a team that plays with a different season start date.The 2026 MLS campaign, for example, kicks off in February, so a loan move to North America could be an option.However, a player of Elliott’s age and quality probably doesn’t want to be featuring in a lower-level league during what should be his prime years.Unfortunately, unless FIFA change their rules to account for cases like this, which they should, there is not a lot the Liverpool man can do.