Liverpool attacker Harvey Elliott has struggled for game time on loan at Aston Villa this season, making just seven appearances with none since October
Liverpool may soon have to make their first big call of the January transfer decision regarding forward Harvey Elliott, who is currently struggling on loan at Aston Villa. The young English player joined the Reds from Premier League rivals Fulham when he was a teenager.
Since then, he has made just under 150 senior appearances for the club in all competitions, netting 15 goals. One of these goals came against Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League's round of 16 last season, providing Liverpool with a crucial advantage going into the second leg of the tie at Anfield.
However, that was one of only five goals Elliott scored throughout the entire campaign, as he found regular playing time hard to come by under new head coach Arne Slot.
As such, it wasn't surprising that the 22-year-old was heavily linked with a move away from Anfield during the summer. This eventually materialised on deadline day when he signed for Villa on a season-long loan.
The deal could become permanent for £30million, but only if he reaches a certain number of appearances.
Unfortunately for Elliott, this season has been another challenging one, and his hopes of making Thomas Tuchel's England World Cup squad next summer seem to have evaporated. This is not only due to the fierce competition for places in the Three Lions squad, but also because his playing time at Villa Park has been virtually non-existent recently.
However, despite the January transfer window opening, and while the Echo understands that a return to Anfield hasn't been entirely ruled out, it would likely involve financial penalties for Villa, which they would understandably be hesitant to trigger at this stage.
FIFA rules also stipulate that a player cannot represent more than two clubs in any given season. His brief appearance for Liverpool against Newcastle at the start of the campaign means the deal can't be cancelled only for him to be loaned out again.
Elliott has made just seven appearances across all competitions, but hasn't been in a matchday squad since October.
Despite reports of Villa's coaching staff being impressed with his work ethic and application in training, he has been consistently overlooked by Villa boss Unai Emery.
The Villa manager has all but confirmed they won't be signing him permanently, which has left glaring question marks over his immediate future.
The lack of game time, and omissions from squads entirely, is easily explained by Villa's determination not to trigger his £35million buy clause.
Speaking about the English forward, Emery said: "First, my decision and also the situation. He is on loan playing with us, but he is not definitely adding to us with a permanent contract.
"Hopefully we can get the best for him and the best for us. I respect him as a player and as a person. He is training well, but we have one circumstance with him.
"Hopefully we can get a solution for him to try to play consistently and try to continue in his career with us or not."