Harvey Elliott is wasting away on the bench at Aston Villa.

The 22-year-old left Anfield in the summer with the hope of an increased role under a top manager.

It hasn’t gone that way. Unai Emery isn’t using Elliott, and you can already confidently say his future at Villa is, well, non-existent.

Former Aston Villa CEO Christian Purslow has gone against the predominant narrative around Elliott, which puts the blame on Emery. He thinks it’s Liverpool who are responsible.

It’s an unfortunate situation for all involved, really. Loan moves always run a risk of not panning out.

In the case of Elliott, Purslow reckons he would be enjoying life at Villa Park a lot more, if not for Liverpool’s unbending stance.

He says on talkSPORT: “Liverpool weren’t playing ball, and they weren’t playing ball because of what is hanging over today’s fixtures, which has been hanging over the last few weeks, which is the top five outcome.

Photo by Robbie Jay Barratt – AMA/Getty Images

“The stakes on...