Injury crisis opens door for FORGOTTEN Liverpool midfielder

Liverpool took the decision to send Harvey Elliott on loan to Aston Villa on transfer deadline day.

The 22-year-old - now a double Premier League title winner - was permitted to join Unai Emery’s side on a one-season loan deal ahead of a potential permanent move.

The terms of the deal dictated that Elliott’s loan would become permanent once he played 10 first-team games for the Villans. But it looked as though his fate was sealed early - with no appearances in any competition since October and stuck on five games overall.

Liverpool have been linked with a move to bring Elliott back from his nightmare loan spell with Villa having little inclination to activate the £35m clause.

Harvey Elliott's nightmare loan

However the England under-21 international would be severely limited in his options for the second half of the season if he did come back.

The Anfield club would be unable to send the playmaker on loan to another European club - as Elliott has already featured for two clubs in the 2025/26 season.

Therefore the midfielder is stuck in a limbo - unable to be fixed up with a new deal and with no chance of first-team football at Villa or Liverpool for that matter.

But Elliott could be set for an UNEXPECTED Aston Villa reprieve.

Aston Villa injury crisis opens door for Elliott

Following John McGinn’s knee injury against Everton at the weekend Villa are very much down to the bare bones in midfield.

The Scotland international joins Amadou Onana, Ross Barkley and Boubacar Kamara on the treatment table at Villa Park.

Emery is quickly running out of options in midfield - utilising Dutch defender Lamare Bogarde in the engine room against the Toffees.

With McGinn sidelined he opted to bring in Evann Guessand and shuffle his deck but he has got nowhere to turn for the upcoming weeks unless he offers the olive branch to Elliott.

It will be interesting to see what he does over the on-loan Liverpool star for the games against Fenerbahce on Thursday as well as Newcastle at the weekend.

No one is saying Elliott is going to reach the 10-game threshold in order to facilitate a permanent deal.

But Villa’s needs are more pronounced than ever and he could be given the chance to play himself back into the reckoning.

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