‘Top class’ – Harvey Elliott already has Villa fans and media enraptured after ‘dream’ first start | OneFootball

Harvey Elliott is still technically a Liverpool player, but it already seems a formality that his loan move to Aston Villa will soon be made permanent.

The 22-year-old joined Unai Emery’s side on deadline day, with a full £35m transfer being triggered if/when he makes 10 appearances for the Midlands club (The Athletic).

Having made his Villans debut off the bench against Everton last weekend, the England under-21 star was handed his first start for his new club in their Carabao Cup tie at Brentford on Tuesday night, only for them to lose on penalties despite him opening the scoring shortly before-half (Transfermarkt).

The result extends Villa’s miserable start to the season, but the verdicts of various fan sites and media indicated that Elliott is already becoming a huge favourite in the Midlands.

Elliott already earning plenty of praise at Aston Villa

Birmingham Live reporter John Townley gave him 7/10 in his post-match player ratings against the Bees as he hailed ‘a dream full debut’ for the 22-year-old, while Andrew Beharie of Villa News proclaimed an ‘outstanding’ and ‘top-class performance’ from our former no.19.

The Athletic’s Jacob Tanswell was also impressed by the attacking midfielder, describing him as ‘lively‘ and a player who ‘adds that bite/hunger to make an impact‘ (via X).

(Photo by Eddie Keogh/Getty Images)

Elliott could soon become a regular starter in the Midlands

Elliott is already 20% of the way to making his loan move to Villa Park permanent, and on the basis of his display against Brentford last night, it won’t be long at all before he gets to 10 appearances for Emery’s side.

Despite only joining a fortnight ago, he’s the sole player to have scored for the Midlands club so far this season, and we imagine that he’ll keep his starting place for their Premier League clash at Sunderland next weekend.

The 22-year-old recently declared that it was ‘very difficult’ to leave his beloved Liverpool but felt compelled to do so for the betterment of his career, having been unable to carve out a starting berth under Arne Slot at Anfield and seen a host of new attackers join for vast transfer fees in the summer.

He’d previously stated that he’d have remained with the Reds forever if he could, but having taken just over 60 minutes of his Villa career to start and score, his decision to swap Merseyside for the Midlands already looks a sensible one.

We don’t know yet if Elliott will be playing on the day that his new club are away to LFC at the start of November, but in any case he’d be afforded a very warm welcome back if he makes the trip to L4 that day. By then, he might well be one of the first names on Emery’s team sheet!

You can watch the Liverpool squad prepare for Champions League action via our YouTube channel: