When players go out on loan, it usually for two reasons. Option one is to get more minutes and to get more match fit for a possible upcoming summer tournament. Option two is for clubs to send young players to harness their skills and to mature into a natural senior and first team player.
Liverpool's Harvey Elliot fell under option one when he went to Aston Villa last summer. He has played very limited minutes and Aston Villa manager, Unai Emery, has described it as embarrassing.
Aston Villa manager Unai Emery says he feels like he should apologise to Harvey Elliott on a daily basis and has described the controversial situation as "embarrassing for everyone involved".
Harvey Elliott was ineligible to play for Aston Villa against parent club Liverpool on Friday night. Unai Emery wouldn't have picked him anyway and it's not to save him for next week's Europa League final against Freiburg. Elliott hasn't seen a single minute of game time since March because he's one appearance away from triggering the clause in his loan agreement that would oblige Villa to buy him for £35 million and they've absolutely no intention of allowing that to happen.
The 23-year-old has struggled for first-team minutes under Emery. In fact, Elliott has played just 277 minutes this season, a total that includes just four Premier League appearances.
Elliott's season is essentially already over, although, in truth, it never really began, with Emery deciding very early on that the versatile forward wasn't part of his plans. A summer return to Liverpool has long since been an inevitability but what chance does he actually have of staying there? After all, it's not as if Arne Slot rates him either.
Just before leaving Liverpool in May 2024, Jurgen Klopp was asked if he had any regrets. The Kop idol replied, "It's not like I go back and think, 'Where did we go wrong here and there?' But if I regret one thing a little bit it's that Harvey didn't play often enough, maybe."
"In a very important and intense period in January when we had a lot of injuries, he played really good, probably our best player, whether it was right wing or right midfield, all these kind of things. [Then], everybody came back and he had a few minutes here and there and didn't start any more."
Elliott certainly bore no ill-will towards Klopp, though. The childhood Liverpool fan was immensely grateful to a man he's repeatedly labelled a "legend" for "helping me live my dream" and says he's surprised that there still isn't a statue of Klopp outside Anfield.
Elliott's career was also in a very promising place at the end of 2023-24 campaign. He'd just featured in a career-high 53 games across a single season and, at 21 years of age, was being tipped to play a major role under Klopp's successor, given he appeared ideally suited to the No.10 role within Slot's system.
Elliott's pre-season performances only strengthened that belief, as he exhibited the mix of industry and innovation the former Feyenoord coach wanted in an attacking midfielder.
"[We're] playing out from the back, getting him in the right positions, so then it is up to him to make the most out of these situations and he did that today with two assists," Slot said after Elliott created both goals in Liverpool's 2-1 friendly win over Arsenal in Philadelphia on August 1, 2024.
However, when the 2024-25 season began, Elliott found himself back on the bench, and played just seven minutes of Liverpool's opening three games before suffering a foot fracture while training with England's Under-21s.
The injury couldn't have come at a worse time for Elliott, as Slot intended to call upon him more regularly during a run of seven games in 21 days for the Reds.
By the time he returned to action, Liverpool were flying, with pressing machine Dominik Szoboszlai excelling in the No.10 role, and Mohamed Salah arguably in the form of his life on the right wing, meaning there was no chance of Elliott playing regularly in either position - which felt like the story of his Anfield career.
Elliott issued a timely reminder of his quality by coming off the bench to net a late winner in the Champions League last-16 first leg against Paris Saint-Germain at the Parc des Princes; but it was telling that the only Premier League games he started all season came after the Reds had wrapped up the title.
Slot had quite clearly deemed him surplus to requirements and the summer signing of Florian Wirtz meant that a move wasn't just inevitable; it was essential for Elliott.
Elliott remained one of the most talented young players in the world, though - that was simply beyond dispute. For example, both Tino Livramento and Elliot Anderson were excellent for England at the 2025 European Under-21 Championship - but Elliott was the undoubted star of the show.
He was named Player of the Tournament as he lifted the trophy for the second time and his outstanding displays in Slovakia led to interest from RB Leipzig, who were looking for a replacement for the outgoing Xavi Simons.
Given the German club's stellar reputation for nurturing young players, a move to the Red Bull Arena would have made perfect sense. However, Leipzig were reportedly unwilling to meet Liverpool's asking price.
Of course, Villa had their own financial concerns but convinced Liverpool to accept a loan deal with a £35m obligation to buy as soon as Elliott reached 10 appearances in all competitions for the club - which felt like a formality even before he featured in the first three Premier League games he was eligible to play in after completing a deadline-day move to Birmingham.
However, the first sign that Unai Emery was dissatisfied with Elliott had actually arrived in his third league outing, with Villa's new no.9 hauled off at half-time in the 3-1 win over Fulham. He's started just once since, in a Europa League game against Austrian side, Red Bull Salzburg, on 29 January.
By that stage, Elliott was desperately hoping to return to Anfield, with Villa making it clear that they'd rather leave him sitting in the stands than pay the agreed fee in light of their issues with their Premier League's Profit & Sustainability Regulations (PSR).
Emery even revealed in February, just after the winter transfer window closed, that Villa had spent the previous three months trying to convince Liverpool to remove the appearance-related obligation to buy from Elliott's contract.
The Reds refused to do so, as was their prerogative. Despite Emery's attempts to argue otherwise, the onus wasn't on the Merseysiders to change the terms of the deal because of financial problems that had absolutely nothing to do with them.
It was very much a mess all of Monchi's making, as Villa's former sporting director had simply signed a player that the coach didn't want, meaning it made neither sporting nor financial sense for the club to sign Elliott on a permanent basis.
The problem, of course, is that while both clubs have been looking out for their own interests, Elliott's have been completely disregarded.
Emery even admitted that they were "damaging" a "good guy and a fantastic professional," who, after helping his country's Under-21s win more silverware last summer, had high hopes of doing likewise with the senior side at the 2026 World Cup. Instead, Elliott is facing an uncertain future after losing an entire year of his career through no fault of his own.
Clearly, Liverpool could've done with some of his creativity and aggression during a calamitous campaign in which several attackers have struggled for form and fitness but Elliott seems to have no chance of ever playing for the club again while Slot is still the manager.
Indeed, when asked about Elliott's situation ahead of Liverpool's trip to Villa Park, Slot was non-committal. The Dutchman would only say that Elliott was "contracted to us" so he will return to the club ahead of the start of next season, and that it was "a pity" that the forward has "hardly played for two years".
An apologetic Emery was asked about the player's situation.
"To now explain about the reason for this decision is very difficult, or it is easy, but it is not the moment," he said in his pre-match press conference. "Of course, it is something embarrassing for everyone involved."
"My apologies for Harvey Elliott is every day in my mind. But it is [about] responsibility. We have our responsibility and Liverpool have their responsibility. It is something, as a human and as a person, how the season has gone has been difficult."
Arne Slot, meanwhile, has confirmed that Elliott will return to Liverpool for pre-season ahead of the 2026-27 campaign.
"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," said the Dutchman.
"That hasn’t happened a lot. That’s not for me to answer why that is. 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."
Back in February, a report from The Athletic claimed that Elliott wasn't part of Unai Emery's long-term plans as there was a 'lack of trust' in the player's ability to carry out tactical instructions. He also preferred other options.
Emery has previously spoken about the obligation to buy clause that was included in the deal as he opened up about Elliott's complicated situation.
"I spoke with him. We have been fair because there are two ways: one way is a sport, the second is business," he said in February. "We'll be fair in case, because we are trying it, and I told him, we are opening the door to play with us, because he can help us."
"But it's not only in my way and on my side. The other side is Liverpool. If they take off the clauses to play matches and for us to buy him, (I said to him) 'You are going to play here with us, it's a sport decision'."
"But now it's a sport decision and a business decision. My sport decision is still there, 'You are deserving to play, we need your qualities in the field, you are going to play'. But in case the clauses are still there, now it is Liverpool - they have the key."
"And I told him, it will be fair for him in case Liverpool take off this clause. We are speaking about it (taking off the clause), but not (just) now. We started speaking about it three months ago. Of course, the transfer window finished on Monday."
"It will be fair for him, because he's a calm guy, good guy, and he's a fantastic professional. And then his qualities are there."
"Of course, he must play, and he's really being patient. And I know we are damaging him, because we got a deal with Liverpool in the summer and the deal is there, and we are respecting the decision and taking the sporting decision responsibly from my side."
Emery added: "It can change for him, in case Liverpool take off this clause. If they don't want to, okay, but the player is getting damaged."
The hope, then, is that there is some truth to the recent rumours that Leipzig remain interested in signing the 23-year-old and could belatedly help Elliott get back on track.
I always believe players should talk to managers to see if they are going to play. There's no point in joining a club if you're not going to play. The good news is that he's young and there will be clubs who will want to sign him.
Every player is bound to have a bad season in whatever form it may take.