Unai Emery Holds Firm On Harvey Elliott As Aston Villa Injury Woes Mount

Unai Emery insists Aston Villa's stance on Harvey Elliott is "not changing" despite his recent return to the squad and their ongoing injury crisis.

Elliott had not featured in a matchday squad since November before being included against Newcastle United last Sunday, though he did not come off the bench in Villa's 2-0 victory at St. James' Park.

The 22-year-old has made just five appearances since joining Villa on loan from Liverpool, and Emery has already made his reluctance to play him very clear.

Should Elliott play 10 matches for Villa during his loan spell, they would trigger an obligation to buy him for a reported fee of at least £30m.

Villa have lost Youri Tielemans, John McGinn and Boubacar Kamara to injury and Emery has confirmed they are close to bringing back Douglas Luiz on loan.

With the transfer window almost over, Emery says nothing has changed regarding Elliott, though he will be in the squad to face Salzburg in the Europa League on Thursday.

"There are still five days to finish the window," Emery said in his pre-match press conference.

"Everything we accepted before, only some injuries can change it, like Douglas Luiz is a player joining us because we had injuries in centre midfield.

"With Harvey, it's not changing. Our idea is that we spoke to him clearly. He's a fantastic guy.

"On Sunday, he was on the bench, and if we needed some help from him, he was ready to do it. He is in the squad tomorrow. But the situation is not changing for him that he has now."

While Tielemans and McGinn are both set to be on the sidelines for around eight weeks, Villa have been able to welcome back Tyrone Mings.

He started against Fenerbahce in their most recent Europa League game, with Villa's 1-0 victory in Istanbul lifting them to second in the table, and they are guaranteed an automatic qualification place for the last 16 and could still overhaul Lyon to top the pile.

Including qualifiers, Villa have won 14 of their last 16 home matches in European competitions (D1 L1), winning each of their last six in a row.

They have never faced Salzburg in a European match before, but Mings is excited to be back in the squad and praised Villa for the progress they made during his time off the pitch.

"It's very good being back," he said. "I think when I got injured against Fulham, we were firmly in the bottom half of the table, and I came back into a top-three, top-four battle.

"So, the team have been amazing, and I think that model of consistency and that demonstration of consistency is something we've been striving for, for years.

"But you can see now, just how everybody is contributing something in the squad – whether you start, whether you come on, players get injured, you get an opportunity to come in and play.

"We're going to need everybody between now and the end of the season, so for me to come in and be a part of that is, of course, something that I'm extremely proud of."