Harvey Elliott is wasting away on the bench at Aston Villa.
The 22-year-old left Anfield in the summer with the hope of an increased role under a top manager.
It hasn’t gone that way. Unai Emery isn’t using Elliott, and you can already confidently say his future at Villa is, well, non-existent.
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Former Aston Villa CEO Christian Purslow has gone against the predominant narrative around Elliott, which puts the blame on Emery. He thinks it’s Liverpool who are responsible.
Ex-Aston Villa chief explains why Liverpool are holding back Harvey Elliott
It’s an unfortunate situation for all involved, really. Loan moves always run a risk of not panning out.
In the case of Elliott, Purslow reckons he would be enjoying life at Villa Park a lot more, if not for Liverpool’s unbending stance.
He says on talkSPORT: “Liverpool weren’t playing ball, and they weren’t playing ball because of what is hanging over today’s fixtures, which has been hanging over the last few weeks, which is the top five outcome.
“The stakes on Champions League qualification, guys, are so high, probably £90 to £100 million in revenue next year in or out, then frankly, the £5 to £10 million that you might lose if Harvey Elliott doesn’t kick a ball and bounces back in the summer is peanuts compared to whether Liverpool get fifth or
Villa get fifth. So that’s why Liverpool aren’t playing ball.”
Purslow is talking about the compromise that Villa were attempting to reach, whereby they could allow Elliott to pass the ten appearances threshold for a small fee, without triggering the obligation that kicks in next summer.
As he rightly points out, that would be a strange decision from FSG to make life easier for their direct rivals. Villa are teetering as injuries continue to plague the side, and being able to take Elliott out of the bubble wrap for the run-in would be a huge help.
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Liverpool trail Villa by just three points after the weekend’s action, and it’s possible the end-of-season standings will be decided by the finest of margins. Elliott deserves sympathy for the situation he finds himself in, but his current club do not.
As the former Villa chief points out, there’s massive amounts of money at stake at the top end of the Premier League table.
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