Arne Slot gives emphatic 15-word response on whether Harvey Elliott could return to Liverpool
Arne Slot issued an emphatic response regarding the possibility of Liverpool recalling Harvey Elliott from his loan spell at Aston Villa in January.
The 22-year-old left Anfield at the end of the summer transfer window, with the transaction due to become permanent once he makes 10 appearances for Unai Emery’s side (The Athletic).
However, the attacking midfielder has been stuck on five games since the first week of October and hasn’t even been included in a Premier League matchday squad in the last two months (Transfermarkt), with his manager openly stating that it’s difficult for him to select the England under-21 star when so many teammates in his position have been excelling.
Slot shuts down possibility of Elliott recall
Don Hutchison is among those to plead the case for Liverpool to duly recall Elliott from his abortive stint in the Midlands, but Slot has (publicly at least) shut down the possibility of that happening.
When the topic was broached in this morning’s press conference (via Liverpool Echo), the Reds boss gave a firm 15-word reply: “Harvey is an Aston Villa player and he’s supposed to be there for the season.”
Elliott’s talents are inexplicably going to waste
Perhaps Slot is simply being respectful to the Midlands club and sensibly opting not to speak out of turn about Elliott, for fear of sparking a backlash from the Villa Park hierarchy.
Privately, we suspect that a part of the Liverpool head coach would love to rescue the 22-year-old from his current stasis, even though he restricted the player to predominantly substitute appearances at Anfield last term.
FIFA regulations which stipulate that players can represent no more than two clubs in the same season preclude the Merseysiders from terminating his loan at Villa and sending him somewhere else, unless it’s to a team whose campaign runs on a calendar year basis (e.g. an MLS outfit).
It leaves Elliott in the maddening situation of being cast aside by both his parent club and his loan side and highly unlikely to be handed an alternative escape route, with this wonderfully talented footballer inexplicably being discarded like wrapping paper after Christmas Day.
It’s infuriating that he’s being left out in the cold at a time when Liverpool could badly do with having greater strength in depth in their attacking ranks. Even if Slot hadn’t intended to hand the 22-year-old much game-time, at least having him to call upon would be a welcome comfort blanket.
Who knows what lies ahead for Elliott? The sad thing is that he probably doesn’t even know that himself.
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