Aston Villa have completed a double deal by signing winger Jadon Sancho and midfielder Harvey Elliott on loan as Unai Emery belatedly brought in reinforcements.
Sancho has left Manchester United on a third loan in successive seasons, after spells at Borussia Dortmund and Chelsea.
Villa will pay a loan fee and have guaranteed 80 percent of his considerable wages but United had hoped to sell the England international this summer. Roma and Dortmund had both been interested in him.
Elliott has joined on a season-long loan while Villa have an obligation to buy the England Under-21 international from Liverpool for £35m next summer.
Villa beat off competition from RB Leipzig for Elliott’s signature, while West Ham and Fulham had also been interested in him this summer.
The 22-year-old, a boyhood Liverpool fan, was named player of the tournament when England won the European Under-21 Championships but then admitted he may need a transfer to avoid “wasting years” of his career.
Elliott only started two Premier League games last season and Liverpool felt his chances of first-team football were reduced by the arrivals of players such as Florian Wirtz and Alexander Isak this summer.
But they included both a sell-on and a buy-back clause in the deal with Villa to keep open the option of bringing him back to Anfield in the future.
Villa are the only team who have yet to score a Premier League goal this season and Emery had been operating with a weaker squad after the loss of loanees Marco Asensio and Marcus Rashford and the departure of Leon Bailey.
But they made three signings at the end of the transfer window, with Sancho’s former Manchester United teammate Victor Lindelof arriving on a free transfer, while goalkeeper Emi Martinez stayed, after United decided to buy Belgian goalkeeper Senne Lammens instead of him.
