£35m midfielder sets up SENSATIONAL Liverpool return | OneFootball

Return to Liverpool lined up for Elliott

Unfortunately for the young Englishman, we might see Harvey Elliott return to Liverpool if he is not played regularly enough at Aston Villa. His desire to spend more time on the pitch is not being met.

Unai Emery agreed to sign the midfielder for £35m on deadline day, on the premise that his move was a success for all parties. However, despite the Birmingham club's struggles at the start of the season, he's been unable to get enough opportunities to make a sizeable impact.

The Villains failed to score a goal in each of their first four games of the season, and went win-less until their seventh match - since then, they've won five of their last six, with a trip to Anfield up next.

In that time, Elliott's played just 191 minutes across seven matches, scoring once in the Carabao Cup.

At his current rate, the 22-year-old is on track to play just 764 minutes if he makes it to the 28 appearances he had for Liverpool last season, although he'll actually have played less minutes.

Intel at the Daily Mail has recently confirmed the requirement for Elliott to play a certain amount of games, although that exact figure is currently unknown. Liverpool certainly appeared to be strategic in their use of Darwin Nunez last season, in an attempt to not have to pay an additional add-on for a player who was likely to leave. Aston Villa will be well aware of the numbers to avoid the £35m.

Of course, no one should be writing Elliott off yet, we're still early into the season. If he is to join Emery's side on a permanent move, the Reds are said to have a buy-back clause and a sell-on clause embedded in the agreement, but we might have him back in a Liverpool shirt next season.

Regardless of how the situation unfolds, it's clear that the England star needs to catch a break at some point. His desire to succeed is admirable, but he's struggling to make it happen on his own.