I suspect based on nothing but my overactive imagination and current sleep deprivation-induced madness, that …
Emery agreed to sign Elliott on loan. Liverpool wanted rid permanently. Monchi was put in charge of negotiations and for some reason accepted the 10 game clause.
We’ve taken a look at him, decided there’s better ways to spend £35m considering he was mainly being brought in as a squad player / rotation option.
Our main leverage on Liverpool is in making it perfectly obvious that we’re not playing him again this season. If he makes the odd appearance they might choose to chance it on the basis we’d pay his wages and might inadvertently take him off their hands. If we don’t even let him on the subs bench it’s pretty obvious that he’d be better off making a couple of subs appearances or FA Cup starts with them than rotting away with us, so we’ll have a much stronger case for him to be sent back in January.
It’s probably in his best interests now for that to happen, it’s in our best interest to free up a loan space, and it’s in Liverpool’s best interests given the alternative is for him to not play competitive football for the best part of 12 months.
