As things stand after the arrival of Cody Gakpo, Liverpool will have to leave at least two senior players out of their Champions League roster for the second half of the season.
For the group stages of this season, Jurgen Klopp picked a 24-man team since the Reds lacked enough club-trained players to form a complete 25-man group. If a club-trained player isn’t re-signed in January, this will continue to be the case for the knockout rounds.
At mid season, clubs are permitted to add up to three new players to their Champions League roster; Gakpo’s planned admission, at the expense of one current player, is expected to fill one of those openings.
But with Naby Keita and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain both not included in the squad for the first half of the season because of injury, if they are to both be selected, Liverpool won’t be able to register any other new players – which could hint that their transfer business for January is already complete. Meanwhile, two current players would still have to drop out to make room for the pair.
The Reds return to Champions League action against Real Madrid in the round-of-16 next month. They will host the Spanish giants at Anfield, in a repeat of last year’s final, on February 21, before travelling to Madrid for the second leg on March 15.
With their European squad set to be submitted at the start of next month, we take a look at who could miss out.
Stefan Bajcetic drops out
priorities come first. it’s expected that stefan bajcetic will be dropped from liverpool’s 24-man roster to make way for cody gakpo, who joined the club in january. the midfielder has excelled thus far in the campaign and made three appearances in the group stages.
even though he will withdraw, he will still be able to play for the reds in europe in 2023. bajcetic, who is 18 years old, is still considered a “list b” player, which allows him to be chosen even if his team only has a 25-man roster. he was of age, but in the summer he wasn’t allowed to be on the list.
“A player may be registered on List B if he is born on, or after, 1 January 2001 and has been eligible to play for the club concerned for any uninterrupted period of two years since his 15th birthday by the time he is registered with UEFA – or for a total of three consecutive years with a maximum of one loan period to a club from the same association for a period not longer than one year,” according to UEFA rules. If a player has been registered with the club for the past two years continuously and is 16 years old, they may be submitted.
In December 2020, Bajcetic moved from Celta Vigo to Liverpool. He has already spent two years at Anfield without missing a beat as a result.
Bajcetic joined Liverpool from Celta Vigo in December 2020. As a result, he has now fulfilled an uninterrupted period of two years at Anfield to be registered on List B.
Meanwhile, Kaide Gordon could also be included on the list for the first time after signing from Derby County in February 2021. However, the likes of teenagers Ben Doak and Bobby Clark have not yet been on the club’s books long enough to be named on List B.
As a result, they are ineligible to play in the Champions League unless they are included in Klopp’s 25-man squad. This is why summer signings Fabio Carvalho and Calvin Ramsay are both currently registered in the squad despite both being under the age of 21.
Three new players included?
Gakpo has therefore replaced Bajcetic. Liverpool has their full 24-man team, everyone is content, and the task is going well. But is it?
Having missed the first half of the season due to injury, Naby Keita and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain will either miss more time or be reinstated at the expense of two other players next month. In any case, the Reds are only able to select a 24-man team at this time.
If both are included, it may also indicate that Liverpool won’t make any other January signings. Nevertheless, a few veteran players would be disappointed if they did strengthen this month.
Who else gets left out?
Bajcetic will therefore be a player who leaves the game easily, as we already know. Gakpo will take his place, leaving Keita and Oxlade-Chamberlain as the two senior players who will miss out.
There are, however, other options. Ramsay may not be included by Klopp since James Milner and Joe Gomez can both play right-back and because Ramsay has only made two appearances for Liverpool due to injuries.
A backup center back Nat Phillips can also be left out, but due to homegrown rules, Oxlade-Chamberlain would have to take his place if he did so. If the Reds didn’t sign a qualifying player, their squad would be reduced to 23 players.
Having made just one appearance for Liverpool because of injury, Juventus loanee Arthur Melo could also be left out regardless of whether his temporary deal is cancelled or not in January.
Meanwhile, with Luis Diaz currently sidelined until March after undergoing knee surgery, the Reds could take a calculated, short-term gamble and leave the Colombian out with the winger facing a race against time to return to fitness to face Real Madrid anyway. Ruled out until February as things stand, Diogo Jota could also be at risk of a similar fate if that is the path Klopp opts to go down.
Goalkeeping loophole
However, Klopp should take into account a potential weakness. Adrian, his third-choice goalkeeper, might be benched to create room for all of his senior outfield players.
It’s feasible that the German might leave out the Spaniard and call on the teenager Harvey Davies to fill in for him behind Alisson and Caoimhin Kelleher because clubs must have at least two goalkeepers on List A and at least three overall (List A and List B combined).
Although making such a choice would be a gamble, it would be worthwhile if Liverpool later regretted leaving Adrian out because UEFA regulations might actually allow for a temporary substitution.
That’s because if a club cannot count on the services of at least two goalkeepers registered on List A because of long-term injury or illness (i.e. one that lasts 30 days), they can temporarily replace him at any time during the season.
As a result, if Alisson or Kelleher were missing because of injury or suspension, it is plausible that the Reds could then call-up Adrian despite leaving him out of their squad at the end of January.
Homegrown players
While teams are allowed to name a 25-man squad for the Champions League, eight of those 25 places are reserved exclusively for ‘locally trained players’. If a club has fewer than eight locally trained players in their squad, then the maximum number of players on List A is reduced accordingly as has previously been mentioned.
There are two categories of ‘locally trained players’ – club-trained players and association-trained players.
Club-trained players are players who were on a club’s books for three years between the ages of 15 and 21, while association-trained players are players who were on another club’s books in the same association for three years between the ages of 15 and 21. However, no club can have more than four association-trained players among their eight ‘local’ nominees on List A.
Trent Alexander-Arnold, Joe Gomez, and Caoimhin Kelleher are the only club-trained players that Liverpool presently has on their roster. James Milner, Jordan Henderson, Fabio Carvalho, and Nat Phillips are their current four players that have had association training.
Oxlade-Chamberlain would be the Reds’ ninth homegrown player, but they still lacked the fourth club-trained player needed to select a full 25-man roster. Liverpool might select the midfielder in place of one of the aforementioned quartet or list him with such players without using up all of their 24 player allocation for “local” nominees.
List B players
Harvey Davies, Isaac Mabaya, Luke Chambers, Curtis Jones, Harvey Elliott, Dominic Corness, and Melkamu Frauendorf were all named on List B for the first half of the season. Bajcetic is set to be added to the list, while Gordon could potentially be included also.
Liverpool can add further youngsters to List B as the season goes on, providing ‘he is born on, or after, 1 January 2001 and has been eligible to play for the club concerned for any uninterrupted period of two years since his 15th birthday by the time he is registered with UEFA – or for a total of three consecutive years with a maximum of one loan period to a club from the same association for a period not longer than one year.’
Possible Liverpool Champions League squad
Alisson Becker and Caoimhin Kelleher are the goalkeepers (club-trained).
Defenders: Trent Alexander-Arnold, Andy Robertson, Joel Matip, Ibrahima Konate, Virgil van Dijk, Calvin Ramsay, and Joe Gomez (club-trained) (club-trained).
Fabinho, Thiago Alcantara, Naby Keita, James Milner (association-trained), Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (association-trained), and Arthur Melo are all midfielders.
Forwards: Luis Diaz, Darwin Nunez, Cody Gakpo, Mohamed Salah, Roberto Firmino, Mohamed Salah, Diogo Jota, and Fabio Carvalho (association-trained).
List B players: Stefan Bajcetic, Dominic Corness, Kaide Gordon, Melkamu Frauendorf, Harvey Davies, Isaac Mabaya, Luke Chambers, Harvey Elliott, Curtis Jones.