Elliott AXED from Aston Villa's squad after being sent warning by Unai Emery

Harvey Elliott's troubled loan at Aston Villa appears to have gone from bad to worse with the Liverpool star left out of their squad entirely for the visit of Manchester City in the Premier League.

Elliott has not started a game for Villa in almost a month and did not make it off the substitutes' bench for Unai Emery in any of their last three matches.

But now his position as a squad exile has intensified after being overlooked for selection in the squad against City.

Elliott, 22, has a £35million obligation to buy included in his Villa deal but now major questions are being raised about his future and reports this week claimed that obligation would only be triggered if he makes 10 appearances. He has made five so far.

Asked about Elliott this week, Emery said: 'I am being very, very demanding myself to choose in each match the player to start and the players on the bench and the subs players, and firstly is always trying to get the best performance collectively, through individual players.

'Harvey is a 10 number in our structure, in our shape, and he plays some matches and there is still adaptation to add himself individually in our structure, the task we have. Of course, he is training well, and his commitment is being very well as well, but his performance was not enough (up to this point).

'At the same time, we have other players who can play as a 10 and they are performing well, and I have different players.

'This is the main reason he is not playing the last matches minutes, but he has to continue working like he is doing in the training session and of course getting his confidence in the performance we need through him.'

Daily Mail Sport's Tom Collomosse revealed earlier this month that Elliott was not high on Emery's list for the summer transfer window.