I left Liverpool to join Aston Villa - I know Harvey Elliott's problem and what must happen next

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So I think Harvey realised he wasn't going to get many starts and he wanted to go and play.“But when you look at the midfield at Aston Villa, you look at the form that they were in ahead of coming to Anfield, they were absolutely flying. And Morgan Rogers, he's going to be a top player.“I think the bigger clubs, and I say this with all due respect to my old club, Aston Villa, but some of the big clubs will certainly be at him, the top clubs, because he's got a little bit more than most.“So Harvey's probably just gone at a time where the manager knows the players there.

If you're not doing it, I want you to know why.“And that's how football's gone. That's the nature of the beast now that you're looking at.”While it was inevitable that Elliott would be linked with a mid-season return to Liverpool as a result of his struggles so far, Houghton has dismissed such a notion.Instead, he insists the midfielder just needs a little more time to prove himself at Aston Villa.“I think I'll give him some more slack at the moment.

“When you're playing at Liverpool and you're playing a certain way, then you go to another club who's not playing exactly the same way, you've got to try and fit in, you've got to find a balance of doing it.“Maybe that hasn't quite worked in his favour at the moment. He played against the players, but he doesn't know them.“It just might take a little bit more time for him to get up to speed with what's required and what he needs to do to get into the starting eleven.“But I wouldn't be in a rush to, you know, do one thing and the other with him.