Arne Slot confirmed on Tuesday that Harvey Elliott will return to Liverpool for pre-season ahead of the 2026-27 campaign, ending a loan spell at Aston Villa that produced almost no playing time.
The 23-year-old has spent the bulk of the current season on loan from Liverpool but has been limited to 284 minutes in all competitions and just 109 minutes in the Premier League, appearing in only four league matches, one of them a single start in September against Fulham when he was taken off at half-time. He has not played in the league since February and cannot face his parent club when Liverpool travel to Villa on Friday because he remains on loan from Liverpool.
Slot, who spoke plainly about the move, said: "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." Slot added that "he went over there to get more playing time, but unfortunately that didn’t happen," and stressed that "he’s contracted to us so he will be with us in the start of the season."
The numbers underline Slot’s point. Villa had an obligation to make Elliott’s move permanent for £35m if he played 10 league games; he featured in only four. Club sources say Villa wanted Elliott to return to Liverpool in January but the clubs could not come to an agreement, leaving the obligation unmet and Elliott stuck in a season that produced more headlines than minutes.
Aston Villa head coach Unai Emery was unusually blunt about the loan, calling the outcome "embarrassing for everyone involved." Emery said, "To now explain about the reason for this decision is very difficult, or it is easy, but it is not the moment," and added: "My apologies for Harvey Elliott are, every day, in my mind. We have our responsibility and Liverpool have their responsibility." He concluded, "How the season has gone has been difficult."
The contrast with Elliott’s recent form for England’s Under-21s is stark. He finished Euro 2025 as the tournament’s player of the tournament after scoring five goals, and Slot noted it is "always a pity if a player hardly plays for two years, let alone a player of that age that has shown during the [U21] Euros that he’s such a good player." Elliott also suffered a foot fracture while training with the Under-21s after having played just seven minutes of Liverpool’s opening three games, further disrupting his club season.
Jürgen Klopp, speaking before leaving Liverpool in May 2024, acknowledged missteps with Elliott’s development, saying: "It's not like I go back and think, 'Where did we go wrong here and there?' But if I regret one thing a little bit it's that Harvey didn't play often enough, maybe." Klopp had earlier praised Elliott’s form during a January injury crisis, saying he was probably Liverpool’s best player in that period.
The friction is obvious: a loan intended to give a young attacking midfielder regular minutes instead produced seven first-team league appearances at most across the campaign and an untriggered £35m clause. Villa’s desire to send Elliott back in January, Emery’s public remorse and Slot’s confirmation that Elliott will be with Liverpool at the start of pre-season create a tight, urgent decision point for the player and the club.
Elliott will return to Liverpool for pre-season, but the broader picture is unsettled: sources say he is not expected to have a future at Liverpool while Arne Slot is in charge. The immediate fact is simple and final — he will be on Merseyside this summer — but what happens after the opening training sessions will determine whether a player who starred at Euro 2025 can rebuild momentum or must seek a fresh start elsewhere.
