Aston Villa transfer news: Unai Emery’s side ‘leading the race’ for £30m Liverpool man who is ‘likely’ to leave

Aston Villa have reportedly positioned themselves at the front of the queue to sign Liverpool midfielder Harvey Elliott this summer.

Since bursting onto the scene as a 15-year-old at Fulham before moving to Anfield in 2019, Elliott has made a total of 147 first-team appearances for Liverpool across all competitions.

The versatile 22-year-old has also won six trophies with the Reds, including two EFL Cups and his first Premier league title last season.

However, Elliott started only two of his 18 Premier League appearances in the 2024-25 campaign and had to settle for a peripheral role in Arne Slot's squad.

The England Under-21 international has since been tipped to seek pastures new in search of regular game time, with the likes of Newcastle United, Brighton & Hove Albion and Borussia Dortmund among the clubs that have been credited with an interest.

Aston Villa ‘leading the race’ for Elliott this summer

Recent reports have claimed that Elliott is most likely to secure a move to a club in Serie A if he leaves Anfield, where he is under contract until June 2027.

However, according to The Mirror, via Birmingham Live, Aston Villa are currently leading the race for Elliott, who is likely to leave Liverpool, as head coach Unai Emery ponders a midfielder reshuffle this summer.

While Youri Tielemans, Amadou Onana, Morgan Rogers and Jacob Ramsey are said to have attracted interest from clubs in either England or abroad, Boubacar Kamara is set to enter the final two years of his contract at Villa Park and is yet to pen fresh terms on a new long-term deal.

Elliott, who is believed to be valued at around £30m, recently admitted that he does not want to be “wasting years” of his career as he faces an important decision over his long-term future at Liverpool.

As quoted by Sky Sports, Elliott said: "It's just a situation that me and the team have to have a conversation about because I'm coming into an age now where I'm 22, I'm going to be 23 next season.

What does the future hold for Elliott?

"I don't really want to be wasting years on my career because it's a short career. You don't know what's going to happen.

"I need to reflect. I need to see if I'm content in doing what I'm doing and how can I improve as a player because that's the most important thing.

"I just want to improve and be the best possible version of myself. If that's to go somewhere else, then it's a decision that I'm going to have to make and I just need to see what happens.

"Nothing makes me want to leave. I love the club, I love the fans, the team. I support them as well. But most importantly, it's just about what's best for my career."

Elliott currently finds himself behind the likes of Alexis Mac Allister, Dominik Szoboszlai, Ryan Gravenberch and Curtis Jones in the midfield pecking order at Liverpool, who are also on the verge of completing a record deal to sign Florian Wirtz from Bayer Leverkusen.

Written by
Oliver Thomas