Aston Villa manager Unai Emery has broken his silence on Harvey Elliott's limited playing time since the midfielder's arrival from Liverpool, insisting the decision is purely based on competition for places rather than financial considerations.
Elliott's Villa Park Struggles
The 22-year-old joined Villa on a season-long loan during the summer transfer window, but the deal includes a significant clause: Aston Villa must make the move permanent for £35 million if Elliott makes ten appearances. With the midfielder having featured only five times so far, scoring once, questions have mounted about his future at the club.
Emery addressed the situation directly ahead of Villa's Premier League clash against Wolves this weekend. "We now have a lot of matches. We must focus on each match with the players we have now," the Spanish coach explained. "We are not thinking about the transfer window in January. He is one of our players and hopefully he can help us. Then, we are going to decide."
Competition Not Contracts
Emery strongly denied suggestions that Elliott's limited game time relates to Villa's reluctance to trigger the £35 million purchase obligation. Instead, he pointed to the strong performances of other players in Elliott's position.
"Firstly, there are other players performing very well. This is the first argument of why he is not playing," Emery stated, while praising the Liverpool loanee's attitude. "He is training very well every day."
The comments come as Aston Villa prepare to face bottom-placed Wolves at Villa Park this weekend. The Midlands club are riding high after their 2-1 Europa League victory over BSC Young Boys on Thursday, with goals from Youri Tielemans and Morgan Rogers securing the win.
Elliott's Career Crossroads
Elliott's move to Villa Park was intended to provide regular first-team football, something the player himself highlighted as crucial when he joined in September. "I loved every minute of it at Liverpool; every second, every day," Elliott said at the time. "But I think the most important thing for me when I was making the decision was to be playing first-team football."
The former Fulham academy graduate has made 149 appearances for Liverpool since joining the Reds, scoring 15 goals. His previous loan spell at Blackburn Rovers proved successful, but his current stint at Villa has seen him struggle to break into Emery's starting eleven.
With five appearances already to his name, Elliott needs just five more to trigger the mandatory purchase clause, leaving his future in limbo as the January transfer window approaches. Villa now face a crucial decision: either integrate the talented midfielder more regularly or potentially send him back to Anfield without fulfilling the agreement's conditions.
