Leicester City to drop four players from Europa League squad as deadline approaches
International transfer window is shut and while they can still sign players from the EFL, Leicester City are unlikely to further bolster their squad, particularly as they now have to think about who makes the cut for the Europa League.
At midnight on Tuesday, only 25 hours after the closure of the transfer window, City have to name the players that will be registered in their squad for the European games, which start in just over a fortnight’s time with a home clash against Ukrainian outfit Zorya Luhansk.
The issue for City is that they have too many players. Of those given a squad number, City have 28 who would need to be registered on List A. However, the maximum they would be allowed to register is 24.
A squad of 25 is allowed, but four of those have to be club-trained players, of which City only have three in Harvey Barnes, Hamza Choudhury, and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall. As such, they lose their right to one of the spots.. If City choose not to register Dewsbury-Hall because they intend to send him out on loan, then they will only be allowed to name a squad of 23.
To bring their number down from 28 to 24, City have to omit four players, and two are likely to Filip Benkovic and Matty James. The pair could leave on loan to an EFL club before the domestic deadline on October 16.
Wilfred Ndidi could be another to miss out, due to his injury. The Nigerian midfielder is not expected to fully recover from his groin issue until close to Christmas, by which time all six of the group games will have been played. If City reach the knockout stages, they can edit their squad and then include a hopefully fully-fit Ndidi.
That would leave one more player to exclude. Ricardo Pereira is not due to be fit until the end of October or beginning of November, and so could miss out on half of the group fixtures.
If Daniel Amartey’s hamstring issue proves serious, he could be left out for a similar reason.
Demarai Gray has not been included in any of the Premier League matchday squads yet, so could be another candidate, while Wesley Fofana’s arrival may limit the need to include captain Wes Morgan in the squad.
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All three senior goalkeepers are likely to be included, in case of injury.
Left-back Luke Thomas, as a club-trained player below the age of 21, can be registered on List B, which can include an unlimited number of players.
City’s 28 senior players are below.
Goalkeepers: Kasper Schmeichel, Danny Ward, Eldin Jakupovic
Full-backs: Ricardo Pereira, James Justin, Timothy Castagne, Christian Fuchs
Centre-backs: Wes Morgan, Daniel Amartey, Jonny Evans, Caglar Soyuncu, Filip Benkovic, Wesley Fofana