Speaking ahead of Aston Villa's fixture against Manchester City and following the 2-1 defeat to Go Ahead Eagles in the Europa League, Unai Emery praised Harvey Elliott's attitude and work rate in training but admitted his performances have not yet reached the level required.
The Spaniard emphasised Elliott remains an important part of the squad, urging him to continue working hard to find his rhythm and confidence within Villa's tactical structure.
Emery said: "I am being very, very demanding myself to choose in each match the player to start and the players on the bench and the subs players, and firstly is always trying to get the best performance collectively, through individual players.
"Harvey is a 10 in our structure, in our shape, and he plays some matches, and there is still adaptation to add himself individually in our structure.
"Of course, he is training well, and his commitment is being very well as well, but his performance was not enough (up to this point).
"At the same time, we have other players who can play as 10, and they are performing well, and I have different players.
"This is the main reason he is not playing the last match but he has to continue working like he is doing in the training session, and of course getting his confidence in the performance."
