Arne Slot has admitted that Harvey Elliott’s loan move to Aston Villa this season has been a bit of a nightmare for the young midfielder.
The 23-year-old’s spell at Villa Park has been marred by contractual disputes and limited playing time. The deal made last September, was a season-long loan with an obligation to buy for £35m, depending upon on appearances.
Possibly because of that, Elliott has found himself out of favour with Villa boss Unai Emery and as a result has only played 284 minutes this season.
“I think for him, for everyone, it didn’t work out as he wanted it, as we wanted it and probably also how Villa wanted it, because you usually sign a player or bring him in on loan to use him,” said Slot ahead of Liverpool’s trip to Aston Villa on Friday. “That hasn’t happened a lot. That’s not for me to answer why that is.
“But of course, it’s never nice for a player not to make so many minutes, especially after the season he had with us, where he made – I assume – even more minutes with us than these 280.
“He went over there to get more playing time, but unfortunately that didn’t happen.
“And for such a talented player that did so well in the U21 Euros [last summer], you want a player like that to get more and more playing time.
“He went to a very, very good team as well, where they also have a lot of good players. I don’t know why he hasn’t made the minutes he was expecting. That’s not for me to answer.
“But it’s always a pity if a player hardly plays for two years, let alone a player of that age that has shown during the Under-21 Euros that he’s such a good player.”
“He’s contracted to us so he will be with us in the start of the season.”
