Harvey Elliott was forced to sit and watch on as Aston Villa lost 2-1 to Europa League minnows Go Ahead Eagles on Thursday night.
Evann Guessand‘s early goal to put Aston Villa ahead wasn’t enough for Unai Emery’s men to preserve their 100 per cent record in the competition, with Emi Buendia missing a penalty in the 79th minute that would have levelled the score.
Elliott joined Aston Villa on loan from Liverpool on transfer deadline day, but despite much fanfare surrounding his arrival, the 22-year-old has hardly been used by Emery.
In fact, the former Fulham attacker has been left as an unused substitute in each of Villa’s last three games, prompting speculation that something is amiss at Villa Park.
Are Aston Villa leaving out Harvey Elliott for financial reasons?
Aston Villa agreed an obligation-to-buy clause for Elliott when he joined on an initial loan from Liverpool in September.
It’s been widely reported that once the London-born ace makes 10 appearances in the 2025-26 season, Villa will have to pay £35million to make his stay at Villa Park permanent.
Sam Matterface has mooted the possibility of Emery purposely not playing Elliott so that the PSR-hampered West Midlands club do not have to pay that fee to Liverpool.
Speaking on talkSPORT on Friday morning, Matterface said: “He’s not featured in any of the last three games and there’s a bit of speculation that if he registers 10 appearances across all competitions, it triggers an immediate buy for £35m.
“Are they trying to avoid that? Is there a conspiracy here about the possibility of that situation?”
Alex Crook replied: “There’s a lot of the season to go if that is the case.
“There is an option to buy included in the contract, quite often that is appearance-related. But he’s going to play 10 games.”
Troy Deeney speculates bust-up between Harvey Elliott and Unai Emery
While he admits that it’s coming from a Birmingham City fan, Troy Deeney believes there could be a deeper problem behind Elliott’s lack of game time at Villa Park.
“Villa fans are probably going to be disappointed that a Birmingham fan is talking about this but if you look at someone like Lamare Bogarde, the young lad who started [versus Go Ahead Eagles]. He’s a good player but he’s nowhere near as good as Harvey Elliott,” said Deeney on talkSPORT on Friday.
“I don’t know whether it’s a breakdown between the manager and player, because if you look at it purely on talent, you’ve got to shoehorn him in some capacity.
“He can play anywhere across the frontline, he can play as a No 8, especially against a Go Ahead Eagles team when you’re going to have a lot of the ball.”
Elliott has averaged just 33.4 minutes per appearance when playing for Aston Villa this season.
At Liverpool last term, the attacker averaged 29.3 minutes.
Elliott’s game time has slightly improved when he’s been selected to play, but Arne Slot seemed to show a bit more faith in him than Emery has done so far at Villa Park.
For him not to get any minutes against Go Ahead Eagles – a team Villa were widely expected to win easily against – shows that there’s definitely something up behind the scenes at Bodymoor Heath.
Whether that’s a bust-up with the manager or not, we probably won’t ever know for sure.
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