A-W: The Premier League’s signings to watch
Week 2 — Aston Villa
It’s been a great few weeks of Premier League, domestic cup and European football action, filled with goals and excitement.
Except for Villa fans, however.
They sit 16th, have only scored four goals in the Premier League, and after losing to Brentford in the Carabao Cup 4–2 on penalties a few weeks ago, the Villains are facing a mini crisis.
Drawing to 10-man Sunderland didn’t help, and while wins over Bologna in the Europa League, Fulham and Feyenoord will have eased some pressure, question marks remain over Unai Emery and his team.
One man who has looked bright when playing for Villa though is their new number 9 (who plays as a 10), Harvey Elliott.
Let’s take a look into the former Liverpool man and see how he can fit in Emery’s side.
Elliott started at QPR’s academy before joining Fulham in 2018 and became the youngest ever Premier League player when he came on against Wolves at 16 years and 30 days old.
In 2019 he joined Liverpool for an undisclosed fee, which ended up being disclosed in 2021 as £1.5 million, plus £2.8 million in bonuses — a record for a 16 year old.
From 2021 until 2025, he was regarded as a ‘star-boy’ at Liverpool, and featured frequently under Jürgen Klopp, (74 apps, 33 starts, 4 goals) but found it hard to break into the squad under Arne Slot (18 / 2 / 1).
This was largely due to the unbelievable form of Mohamed Salah, and how irreplaceable Dominik Szoboszlai is in Slot’s tactical approach.
As tough as it was for many Liverpool fans, it was time for Elliott to move onto a new project for the betterment of his career.
There is still a chance that Elliott’s Anfield dream is not over yet, as an addition of a buy-back clause shows just how highly regarded he was.
On paper, a move to Emery’s Villa provided everything Elliott could want — dynamic, attacking football, European competitions and a strong squad that can compete with most sides.
However, it’s been a less than ideal start for the Villains so far, and we’re only nine games into the season.
With six points coming from draws against Newcastle, Everton and Sunderland, and a win against Fulham, few would have predicted such a slow start after a good season last year.
And after Jacob Ramsey moved to Newcastle, it looked as though Elliott may finally be able to get more playing time in the Midlands.
But having only started against Fulham and Brentford, it’s clear he has work to do to convince Emery that he should be playing more minutes.
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Leapfrogging Morgan Rogers or Emi Buendia could prove to be tough, though the data proves Elliott is worth taking a punt on.
Using Per90 stats from the 2024–25 season (due to the disparity in matches and minutes played) Elliott and Rogers are strikingly similar:
Elliott and Rogers have a similar goals and assists per90 but Elliott outshines his English compatriot in xG and xAG, with over double (0.44 compared to 0.19).
Buendia feels like an enigma — many Villa fans don’t rate him, (at least online) but he popped up with a goal and an assist at the weekend, and scored against Feyenoord.
The Argentinian replaced Elliott at half time against Fulham and changed the game for Villa. It looks like the number 9 will have his work cut out if he wants to make the number 10 position his own.
Elliott could be seen as a replacement for Jacob Ramsey, whose departure in the summer left a few of the Villa players perturbed (to say the least). Posts from John McGinn and Tyrone Mings alluded the club didn’t handle the situation in the best way.
While that may have been the case, Elliott looks to be an upgrade — his per90 stats are a massive step up.
Elliott’s xG+xAG in the 2024–25 season of 0.69 is over three times better than Ramsey’s (0.22), and the former Liverpool man had a higher SCA90 (5.11 compared to 2.83).
Despite his great underlying stats, Elliott doesn’t seem to have convinced Emery — yet.
He started for Villa against Fulham despite his manager calling him out for trying to play quick passes in behind against Sunderland.
The ex-Arsenal boss said: “For example, Harvey Elliott, a little bit he was getting the ball and so quick doing passes behind the defence without options.
“He needs to understand, ‘Okay, Harvey, you have skills to play more passes, more passes, more passes, and then to do the pass behind, outside or inside,’ in better positions to get something more.”
Then, against Fulham, Elliott did take what his manager said on board, although to the frustration of the home fans:
It’s clear that Elliott is a magnificent player, full of quality and promise — you don’t win the Under-21 Euros Player of the Tournament otherwise.
However he clearly needs time to adapt to his new surroundings, new system and new demands from his manager.
He’s barely played 90 minutes of football for his new side, so expectations need to be tempered to allow him to thrive — without unnecessary pressure.
On Monday we take a look at Bafodé Diakité, Bournemouth’s new centre-back who is tasked with replacing Dean Huijsen.
