Harvey Elliott has revealed he is ready for a ‘second chance’ at Liverpool – and it’s the club’s duty to make sure he’s given one.The 23-year-old has unexpectedly found himself back with his boyhood club after his tumultuous season on loan with Aston Villa.Elliott started as the attacking midfielder in Iraola’s 4-2-3-1 formation for Liverpool’s win over WrexhamGettyThe England Under-21 international wouldn’t have expected to have played for Liverpool again when he left the club last summer.Elliott had the pick of several clubs across Europe as a reward for his standout role in the Young Lions’ defence of their U21 Euro title.The attacker was named the player of the tournament in Slovakia after scoring five goals for Lee Carsley‘s back-to-back champions.His solo success came off the back of Liverpool’s title-winning 2024/25 season in which he made just six starts under Arne Slot.Elliott joined Aston Villa on deadline day on an initial loan that carried a £35million obligation to buy once he made 10 league appearances.However, Villa decided early in the season that they did not want to trigger that option, while Unai Emery stated multiple times that his side had no interest in signing Elliott from Liverpool permanently.That stance meant the former Fulham starlet managed just 277 minutes of football in all competitions – only 13 of which came in the Premier League from the end of September.Having started last season playing for Liverpool, FIFA rules also prevented Elliott from cutting short his Villa loan to join a third European club – effectively confining him to the football wilderness. ‘The PFA should have spoken out‘Former Liverpool Forward Stan Collymore told Hawksbee & Jacobs in May: “I think it’s a disgrace, to be honest. “I think that, firstly, the PFA, where are you – in Delia [Smith] speak – looking after a player that basically won’t have played for a season is exactly the kind of territory I’d expect the PFA chief to come out and say, ‘This is unacceptable.’ Elliott effectively lost a year of his career after being exiled at VillaGetty“This is a season gone in a career that only comes around once and is very short,” Ex-Villa star Collymore continued on talkSPORT.“Neither Villa nor Liverpool come out of this very well. Why? Liverpool had their rules and regulations that they wanted Villa to stick by in terms of purchases or not, but Villa either did want the player or didn’t.“You can’t take a player on loan and then, effectively, within a couple of weeks say not for us. “So Aston Villa’s recruitment department is partly to blame. And I think there’s a very simple workaround. “We often talk in the game of player power, which doesn’t really exist.“They sign contracts, and they only sign contracts that clubs are willing to give them. So when people say, what are you talking about, Collymore? This player’s signed a hundred grand a week contract or 300 grand a week. There isn’t a club that is forced to give any player a contract.Elliott scored England’s first goal in the 3-2 win over Germany in the Under-21s Euro finalAFP“So in terms of Harvey Elliott, I’d like to see players via the PFA wrestle back a little bit more power. “And that would be Harvey Elliott signs for Villa on loan or whoever. And if he’s not involved in 90 per cent of the club’s first 10 games, then the player turns around and says, well, you’ve not discharged your part of the bargain. I’m going to trigger a release clause to go back to the parent club.“And then I’m going to go back on loan to somewhere that will have me. And I think that that would stop this overnight. “It would give players a little bit more reassurance that they’ve got some control over their own career, which Harvey Elliott has not had this season.”That control is something Liverpool can – and should – give back to their No.19 this summer or else risk being directly responsible for curtailing a promising career they helped build.According to Jurgen Klopp, Elliott could have ‘gone pretty much anywhere’ before he decided to sign for Liverpool at 16-years-old.After he signed professional terms at Anfield, Klopp added: “What is great is that he has the perfect culture here and we will protect him.”Yet that culture had changed so drastically under his successor Slot, who seemingly washed his hands of Elliott’s situation in January.Elliott returned early to pre-season and began preparatory work with Liverpool’s U21 squadGettySlot said: “He’s an Aston Villa player. So if you want to ask things about an Aston Villa player, you should ask Unai Emery.”In reality, Elliott was technically still a Liverpool player as he was still only on loan, hence his being back at the club now for pre-season.Far from being bitter at his cold shoulder, the player himself has been relishing enjoying his football again after starting both of Iraola’s pre-season games in charge this summer.Elliott ready to take ‘second chance’ at Liverpool“Everyone knows how much I love the club so the feeling never goes of putting the shirt back on, representing the club, and fulfilling your childhood dream,” Elliott told reporters after Liverpool’s 1-0 friendly win over Wrexham in New York. “But truthfully, yes [I felt it would never happen again], because I wanted a new challenge. I wanted to explore something, come out of my comfort zone, and I thought that would take me on as a player. Unfortunately, it didn’t work out, but the way I see it is it’s kind of a second chance, especially with the gaffer and new coaching staff coming in.“It’s another chance to impress and hopefully get in their good books. But whatever happened last season, I wish Villa nothing but the very best. “I had a lot of love for them, and they treated me very well. I’m here now, and I’m trying to cement my spot in the team or within the squad.”Elliott insists he harbours ‘no hard feelings’ towards VillaGettyElliott would have been eyeing a wildcard entry into Thomas Tuchel’s World Cup squad before his career stalled in the Midlands.While he has denied that ‘it was a lost year’, which is the correct mentality to have, the truth of the matter is that it was.Liverpool don’t have to suddenly offer him a new contract as compensation for that, but the least they can do is give him a genuine lifeline to remain a part of Iraola’s first-team squad.If Elliott pushes to leave, that’s his decision, but with only one more month before the window shuts, he runs the risk of repeating his ill-fated Villa loan.A third straight season playing little-to-no football would be a death knell for his career, and it’s hard to see what club would actually prove the right fit if they’ve waited this long to make a serious approach.“I’m not sure yet what’s going to happen (regarding his future),” Elliott continued. “That’s a conversation for me to have more in detail with the gaffer. When the time is right, I’ll go and ask.“I’m just giving my all and trying to impress. Going forward, I need to be more kind of cautious with my decisions. I have to do what’s right for me, whether that’s staying here and fighting for my place, or whether that’s potentially going elsewhere.“But I’m really happy to be back. Since the first day I walked through the door at the AXA, I’ve had a big beaming smile on my face. Putting the shirt on, I don’t want to take these moments for granted because last season I thought I’d done it for the last time. Playing at Liverpool, there’s no better feeling.”Elliott provided an assist in his 45-minute showing against SunderlandGettyThey say there is no room for sentiment in football, but this is just as practical a decision as it is an emotional one.Elliott adds depth in two areas Liverpool are light in (No.10 and right-wing), and flourished most in Klopp’s high-intensity system that is much more akin to Iraola’s style of play than Slot’s.Under the Spaniard, he ‘has the perfect culture here’, as Klopp once said, to rediscover his potential – it’s down to the hierarchy now to protect him from being shoved straight out of the exit door.