Harvey Elliott has endured a difficult loan spell at Aston Villa, and Liverpool boss Arne Slot has confirmed the winger will return to the club ahead of next season.
Arne Slot has confirmed that Harvey Elliott "will be with us at the start of next season" after the youngster was sidelined at Aston Villa.
Elliott, 23, departed Liverpool for Villa last summer, agreeing to a season-long loan arrangement, with Villa obligated to purchase him in the next transfer window. It subsequently emerged, however, that the obligation would only be triggered once the Englishman had made 10 appearances for the club.
Elliott swiftly fell out of favour under Villa manager Unai Emery, leaving him stranded on nine appearances. The convoluted nature of the transfer — combined with Emery's reluctance to select him — means Elliott has managed just 284 minutes of first-team football this season.
Slot was quizzed about Elliott at his pre-match press conference on Thursday, ahead of Liverpool's trip to Birmingham to face Villa the following day. The loanee remains ineligible to feature against his parent club.
"I think for him (Elliott), everyone, didn't work as out as we wanted it," said Slot. "Usually sign a player on loan to use him, but hasn't happened a lot. Not for me to answer why that it is, but it is never nice for not many minutes. I assume he played more with us last season, and he went there for more time.
"Such a talented player, he did so well at U21 Euros. You want a player like that to play more. But he went to a good team with a lot of good players.
"Not for me to answer, but it's always a pity when a player like that doesn't play a lot. He is contracted to us, so he will be with us at the start of next season."
Elliott's switch to Villa Park was meant to reignite his fledgling career. While he racked up 149 appearances for Liverpool and collected multiple honours - including last season's Premier League crown - the youngster was never able to cement a regular place in the starting line-up at Anfield.
Yet his ability was never in doubt. As Slot pointed out, Elliott was instrumental in England's U21 Euros success last summer, earning the Player of the Tournament accolade.
Whether Elliott will depart Liverpool once more before the forthcoming summer transfer window shuts remains to be seen. Openings are emerging at Anfield, with Mohamed Salah set to depart and Hugo Ekitike recovering from a severe Achilles tendon problem.
In reality, Slot could have benefited from Elliott's presence this season, as his squad has been ravaged by fitness issues. The Liverpool manager has found it difficult to settle on a consistent starting XI, with numerous players struggling to maintain full fitness.
Elliott may yet end the campaign with silverware, as Villa have progressed to the Europa League final. The Midlands outfit will take on Freiburg in Istanbul on Wednesday.
As for Liverpool, Slot's side will conclude the season empty-handed. However, the Reds still have plenty at stake; they need to win one of their remaining two fixtures to guarantee Champions League football next term.
Lilshomyzilla
0
come to City boy
vatbimnpz
0
Let him go, as a lfc fun I don't want slot
Bhw7710
0
Slot will use Gakpo even ply with one leg rather than Elliott.
bubbilopuz
0
And why is Elliott not proving himself at Aston Villa
Obviously you know nothing about football, what are you tryna say?Slot is the greatest thing since slice bread?from the ignorant question you ask it's obvious you're not a liverpool fan but rather a Slot fan who come to wreck liverpool's football and our young players.. Well Quansah escaped and left for Germany where he got an instant call up to the English senior team but Slot thinks he's not good enough yet go buy unproven younger players which makes no sense,now as for Elliot,he has already proven himself as a good premier league player under a real coach name Klopp,but its obvious Slot only wants to run liverpool broke and buy pure top hundred million players whom he thinks he can just put on the field and they coach themselves, Elliott is been stifled because of our stupid Sport directors Hughes and Edwards and Arne, they're more interested in being called good negotiators and how much money they bring in than the welfare of our club and players, if you're not winning then the club will go broke, Aston Villa in the contract had to automatically buy the player if he played 10 matches on loan,that's what caused Elliott to not play more games because of that stupid deal and it's the player that sacrifice...i dont av a problem with wirtz,but Slot gave wirtz a million times to fail while never gave Elliott a chance to prove himself, Elliott was very effective in the minimum chance he got,like he won us the game against palace and PSG in France last season, yet we still cant see anything from the almost half a billion pounds that slot spend,the team in fact got worse, and i dont blame the players, its the coach dont know what he's doing, City got more new players in their team than us yet they already settled in..look at Cherki,yet slot cant get wirtz to be as consistent, the guy is a joke and a complete mess, we're only gonna waste another season with him around, all our players now wants to leave because of slot,..its embarrassing to watch,we lost about 19 matches this season,that's not impressive stats
ketloptuyz
1
HE is a good player .AS is a stupid coach
ketloptuyz
2
Nothing that Slot do is beneficial to LFC.Get him out
Tomckmtyz
0
Slot have a,personal problem with the player and instead of putting his ego aside, he's trying to derail Elliott's career and then spend this huge sum of money to bring in players that i barely saw did any better than Elliott and Elliott didn't get the amount of chances to prove himself like how slot allowed his favorite players to fail,fail and fail..he isnt a good man manager and i dont see not even one player improved under slot this season, they instead went backwards
And why is Elliott not proving himself at Aston Villa
1874Villan
2
It was never the case that Unai didn’t like Elliott he wouldn’t have wanted him on loan if he didn’t like him. The problem was that Elliott never really showed the determination, commitment, intensity, or desire to help the team. If Emery had played him in 10 Premier League games, Villa would’ve been obligated to buy him for £35M, and we could’ve ended up paying a huge fee for a player who ultimately wasn’t offering much to the team. Good luck in the future Elliott, but you weren't for us. UTV💜💜
wewabelru
1
Slot is useless he comes to Liverpool just to fool the FSG for first session then he will destroy them by demanding huge amount of money to buy player
BieberSmith
2
I love Harvey 💙💙
biebcdmrs
0
Liverpool dont like English players..thats why Quansah and TAA ran away..and now they have slot who favours his country..Most of the greatest coach only had or have 1 or 2players that they have the same nationality or zero...take a look at Fugurson,Klopp,Pep,Mourinho and many more..
ciwadmnotz
0
one of my favorite players I love this guy so much honestly another talent about to go
bubbilopuz
0
Slot have a,personal problem with the player and instead of putting his ego aside, he's trying to derail Elliott's career and then spend this huge sum of money to bring in players that i barely saw did any better than Elliott and Elliott didn't get the amount of chances to prove himself like how slot allowed his favorite players to fail,fail and fail..he isnt a good man manager and i dont see not even one player improved under slot this season, they instead went backwards
puocmortz
0
Slot just wasted the boys talent even recalling him in January when many of our players had injury and the team not bringing any new players, still he allowed the boy to waste away why we lack players
citdikot
1
Pretty sure Slot will throw him under the bus later and sell him. Anyone hope he is eligible to get the Europa League medal.
winbins
3
His own club don’t want him, what do expect from others..