Harvey Elliott return highlights transfer problem for Liverpool boss Arne Slot

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Harvey Elliott will be back at Anfield on Saturday in a watching capacity when parent club Liverpool take on loan side Aston Villa in the Premier LeagueHarvey Elliott returns to Anfield for the first time since making the gut-wrenching decision to leave Liverpool in the summer. But that the former England under-21 international will be watching from the stands is very much in keeping with how his fortunes have transpired since switching to Aston Villa.Elliott, of course, is unable to play as he his technically on loan from Liverpool to the Midlanders, with Premier League rules stating such a transfer means the player cannot appear against his parent club in the competition.However, with Villa having an obligation to buy the 22-year-old for £35million at the end of the season, Elliott has played his last game for his boyhood club.READ MORE: Florian Wirtz problem identified as Liverpool new signing told to wait until JanuaryREAD MORE: Arne Slot rules out two key Liverpool players for Aston Villa after confirming injury boostAnd in any case there was every chance Elliott would not have started at Anfield with life in Birmingham having proven eerily similar to a frustrating last campaign at Liverpool.While he scored on his full debut for Villa in the League Cup loss at Brentford in September, he has subsequently started just one game when he was substituted at half-time in the Premier League home clash with Fulham.It says much about Elliott's fortunes that his replacement, Emi Buendia, then assisted one goal and scored another within six minutes of the restart.

Elliott has since played for a couple of minutes in the Europa League win at Feyenoord and didn't even make the matchday squad for last weekend's 1-0 win over Manchester City.With Buendia now injured, there is perhaps an opening for Elliott in the coming weeks. Beyond doubt, though, is Elliott would have very much been in the running for considerable minutes during the last five tortuous weeks of Liverpool's season had he remained at Anfield.And he isn't the only one for which that applies from those players the Reds were happy to allow leave during the summer transfer window.

While Trent Alexander-Arnold and Caoimhin Kelleher wanted to depart and both Nat Phillips and Ben Doak had barely featured for Liverpool in recent seasons, the situation wasn't quite so clear-cut for the remainder.The Reds could easily have kept hold of Darwin Nunez and in particular Luis Diaz, even though the duo had motioned to being open to trying pastures new.But while Diaz has been the biggest immediate loss and has started strongly at Bayern Munich, the £65million Liverpool received was top dollar for a player in his late 20s and who had only two years left on his contract.Such financial decision were key to many transfers. And more intriguing were the exits of former England under-21 trio Elliott, Jarell Quansah and Tyler Morton.That the three players managed just six Premier League starts between them last season as Arne Slot's side romped to the title suggests all would have reasonably considered they would have had difficulty gaining greater first-team chances this time around, not least given they are all still reasonably young - Morton, who turned 23 on Friday, the oldest - and at a stage where they need regular action.And while Elliott has been frustrated at Villa, Quansah has been a virtual ever-present at Bayer Leverkusen after his £35m move and regained his place in the England squad, while Morton is proving a major success at Lyon and has three times more minutes than the whole of last season having gone to the French side for £13m.Liverpool negotiating a buy-back option when agreeing a deal to sell Quansah to Leverkusen leaves the door open for a return to Anfield further down the line.