Liverpool are set to be kept waiting on the future of one player at Anfield for at least another few weeks.
Harvey Elliott has returned to his parent club following an abortive loan spell at Aston Villa in which he made just nine appearances in all competitions, with the threshold for a permanent £35m transfer not being met in the Midlands (The Athletic).
Arne Slot showed no desire to recall the 23-year-old to Merseyside last season even when he was being starved of minutes under Unai Emery, but the Dutchman’s exit at the end of May could give the player a second lease of life in L4.
Now that Andoni Iraola is in charge, it remains to be seen whether or not the new head coach will be prepared to give Elliott a fair crack of the whip at Liverpool, and we might be waiting a few more weeks for an answer.
In the latest version of the Transfer DealSheet for The Athletic, Gregg Evans wrote that the 2024/25 Premier League winner ‘will assess his options closer to the start of the campaign’, with the Reds returning to competitive action away to Newcastle on 23 August.
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Had LFC kept faith with Slot for the upcoming season, it seems almost inevitable that Elliott would’ve left permanently, but the change in the dugout might yet turn out to be a massive sliding doors moment for the 23-year-old.
His absence from the World Cup should see him included among the first batch of names for pre-season training later this month, and the deferred holidays for players involved at the tournament could open a window of opportunity for the attacker to impress his new boss.
If that is to be the case, the onus would then be on him to make the most of whatever game-time he’s afforded by Iraola over the summer, and the departure of Mo Salah leaves the right-winger berth up for grabs unless Liverpool were to bring in a marquee signing for that role.
Even by the start of August, Elliott may well have a much clearer idea of how highly he features in the head coach’s plans and whether or not he still has a chance of reviving his Reds career in the long-term.
Hopefully he can put his best foot forward in the next few weeks and become a genuine option for Iraola for the 2026/27 campaign, having been unceremoniously dumped by Slot and cast aside by Emery.
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