Aston Villa face a crucial decision on Thursday amid a dilemma over submitting our Champions League squad list for the knockout phase.
Villa made five new signings in the January transfer window, with Donyell Malen, Andres Garcia, Marcus Rashford, Marco Asensio and Axel Disasi all joining the club.
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While there were a string of exits to balance that out from a financial perspective and to keep numbers in the squad at an optimal level, that won’t prevent Unai Emery and the management team from having to make a major decision this week.
As per UEFA’s official Champions League site, they state that teams are allowed to register a maximum of three new eligible players for the knockout phase, with the deadline set for 11pm on Thursday night.
Although there has been some confusion over the wording of the relevant Article in their rules, it appears as though only three of our five new signings will be registered, and so Emery must decide on who misses out in the next 24 hours.
Ultimately, Garcia seems an obvious choice given his lack of experience, and although we currently have injury issues in defence, it’s hoped that Matty Cash has returned from his setback before the round of 16 gets underway next month.
Beyond that though, it becomes very tricky. All four of our other January signings will be expecting to feature in the Champions League, and even spoke publicly in their first interviews about being excited to play in the competition.
Asensio boasts a wealth of experience playing at this level and coupled with the creative dynamic he adds to the squad, he seems a certain choice, while Rashford will add another dangerous option in attack and will likely be far from pleased if he’s left out given playing in the Champions League was probably one of the main reasons he joined us.
The same could be said for Malen and Disasi though, but with both Tyrone Mings and Pau Torres currently sidelined by injury, that arguably makes the Frenchman the favourite to be included.
Much will depend on what the expected recovery timelines are for our two centre-halves, but with the deadline looming, it’s not a risk that Emery and Villa can seemingly take, and so Malen may unfortunately be the one to miss out.
The Dutchman will have a critical role to play in the Premier League and FA Cup, but the rules dictate that sadly two have to miss out in Europe, and time will tell if the touted duo above are the ones to not make the cut.
