Harvey Elliott hasn’t had the best time of it so far at Aston Villa.

It has been widely reported that the Liverpool loanee would become a permanent member of Unai Emery’s squad once he makes his 10th appearance for the club.

In that case, Villa would be obliged to pay £35 million to sign the midfielder, but he has so far made only five appearances, starting twice.

Elliott scored on his first start for Villa — against Brentford in the Carabao Cup — before starting again the following week against Fulham.

Since being taken off at half-time in the 3-1 win over Fulham, Elliott has featured just once, coming on late in the victory over Feyenoord.

After being left on the bench against Burnley, Tottenham, and Go Ahead Eagles, he was then excluded from the squad entirely for last weekend’s clash with Manchester City.

Before the match, Emery spoke about the intense competition for places in the position where he believes Elliott performs best, which he says is the reason the 22-year-old hasn’t received...