Everyone's a LOSER in £30m Liverpool disaster deal | OneFootball

There are no winners whatsoever in Liverpool's £30m disaster deal. It's difficult to see how anyone recovers.

Liverpool struck an awful lot of deals in 2025. They attempted to completely reshape their squad, after all, and to do that with a title-winning one is no easy task.

It did not go well. Over £400m spent, over £200m earned, and Liverpool went a long way backwards, failing to offer up anything like the form they managed a year ago.

They’re 14 points off the top of the Premier League, out of the Carabao Cup, and still battling to secure a top-eight spot in the UEFA Champions League. They simply feel like an also-ran, rather than a contender.

The deals haven’t worked out, then, and some of them look incredibly questionable in hindsight. Yet, one deal somehow manages to stand out as the absolute worst.

It’s not even close.

Harvey Elliott's disaster season

“If you want to ask about a [Aston] Villa player, ask Unai Emery. Liverpool has no recall option," said Arne Slot on Wednesday when asked about Harvey Elliott.

It's become his stock response but it isn't a good one. Elliott, after all, looks highly unlikely to actually play for Villa again and looks far more likely to wear Liverpool's strip before he does theirs.

But this is just the latest attempt from Liverpool to wash their hands of a disastrous deal. Elliott is on loan at Villa with a £30m option to buy (though, some say £35m).

That 'option' is technically an obligation, however, as it applies if Elliott plays a certain number of matches. Villa clearly have zero intention of playing him in enough matches to trigger it and will instead just wait out the loan.

It appears likely at this stage that Villa must pay a termination fee to send him back early. Otherwise, it's completely unclear why they wouldn't simply terminate the loan at this stage.

The other way to do it? Have Liverpool agree to void the contract. Slot's answer makes it clear that they won't do that - the Reds cannot sell Elliott or loan him out again this winter because he's already played for two clubs this season.

And it is absolutely moronic that he has. Slot threw him on for a couple of minutes at the start of the season to register an appearance, locking him out of any moves post-Villa.

There are, then, absolutely no winners here. Villa will lost money for nothing as they pay out the rest of the loan deal in wages and, presumably, fees.

Liverpool are absolute losers for playing this game, refusing to find any space in the squad for Elliott right now, and for playing him in that sole minute. Their asset - someone who has had incredibly high stock at times - is depreciating in value at an incredible rate while they essentially abandon the player.

And no one is a bigger loser here than Elliott - and it's not even remotely his fault. Liverpool are content to throw away a year of his career in order to avoid paying some wages and at a time when Slot is complaining about a lack of creativity in the team. Something Elliott could clearly provide.