‘Hidden’ Harvey Elliott issues could be at the heart of Aston Villa freeze-out
Unai Emery has seen something in training from Harvey Elliott that he does not like and so is reluctant to pick him to play in games for Aston Villa right now.
That is the verdict of Premier League legend Matt Le Tissier, who has exclusively told Football Insider that Harvey Elliott‘s struggle for minutes at Aston Villa could boil down to numerous reasons, but is most likely to be a training issue.
Liverpool officially confirmed Elliott’s exit to Aston Villa on deadline day, with a season-long loan move agreed between the two sides and a £35million obligation-to-buy clause inserted into the move.
He won two Premier League titles with the Anfield outfit during his six years at the club, and Elliott scored on his Villa debut last month for the club’s first strike of the campaign in the Carabao Cup away at Brentford.
The 22-year-old has found minutes hard to tough by at Villa since joining, however, and was not even in their matchday squad to take on Man City last time out.
Elliott is unlikely to break into the Villa team anytime soon
Elliott has not figured in any of Villa’s last four games as he was reduced to an unused substitute role before being left out of the squad altogether against City on Sunday (26 October).
His move is certainly not working out how many expected it to so far, but Unai Emery insisted after that clash that his decision was purely tactical, saying: “His commitment is fantastic. He’s a very good player, only our demands are at a high level and some players and how they are performing last year and this year, are playing in the same position.”
Football Insider revealed on Tuesday (28 October) that Elliott is set to struggle to force his way into Villa’s starting lineup anytime soon as Emery is happy with the attackers and midfielders he has at his current disposal.
It is easy to understand why that is the case, considering the Second City outfit have bounced back from a poor start to the new season to win six of their last seven games across all competitions.
Le Tissier thinks issue in training is the reason for Elliott’s Villa issues
Speaking exclusively to Football Insider, former England and Southampton striker Le Tissier insisted that Emery must have seen something in training to suggest that Elliott is not up to standard compared to his Villa teammates.
He said: “We know he’s [Elliott] got great quality, but if he’s not getting many minutes, then I think that just points to the fact that the manager is not seeing stuff in training that he likes, and he’s got to make those big decisions.
“They’ve got a good squad there, but you would have expected a bang on-form Harvey Elliott to have had more minutes this season.
“The lad will be disappointed in himself, but you don’t know if he’s carrying a little injury, if there’s stuff going on behind the scenes, in his private life you don’t know about.
“There’s all sorts of things that can be a reason why, but perhaps people don’t want to make that information public.”