Squad Registration 2025-26

[Stevospurs18]

A CL squad with 22 players will be really interesting. No doubt we’re gonna have to leave out some first team players. Rather than registering two non-HG keepers, we should consider not registering Kinsky if Vic remains number 1, which we did for EL registration.

If we wanted to bring in some former Club trained players, we have the likes of KWP and Cirkin, however I can’t see us bringing any of them in.

Another option would be to not register Ben Davies. This would afford another option to the non-HG list.

I would like to see some movement in terms of departures in the coming weeks. Can easily see Bissouma and Richarlison being first out the door.

Harry Winks return

 

[Saoirse]

Useful resource, thanks Saoirse!

One thing to note is that it's not that unusual for sub-25 player squads to be named in Europe; City have done this in the past, before they had the likes of Foden, Lewis and Palmer coming through their academy/old enough to need to be included in the 25. And we do have a lot of young players who we can call on to make up the numbers - it's just for years we were carried by having Kane, 2 academy goalies and Winks/Skipp available.

A matchday squad in the CL is 20 players, from memory, and not all of them can be used. So even allowing for it being nice if we could name a 25 man squad, in effect it'll just mean we'll have to be a bit more careful with rotation. Last season we could have named Max Robson from the u21 team in the EL squad at the start of the reason as he was too old to make List B, but as I don't ever recall him even making the bench for the first team at any point I suppose the feeling was it would have just been including someone for the sake of including them.

Yeah, it's not the end of days or anything like that. Just does put us in this position right now where we have one senior CB unregistered and presumably not too happy about it (Dragusin), and a choice between leaving out another player who'd definitely get rotation minutes or risking not registering Kinsky. You'd rather not have to be making those choices, but it's the same ones we had to make in Europe last season, and that worked out alright in the end!

What we certainly can't do is make matters worse by increasing the size of the squad further, which is worth bearing in mind at this time of year.

 

[cockerel downunder]

Last season our initial Europa squad was short on defender numbers (6 defenders plus gray) and this was surely one of the compounding factors that lead to the defensive injury crisis.

bulking out the squad with kids is only useful if they can be relied upon as genuine options not just emergency back ups.

in CL it’s even more important to register a full squad of senior players to allow for optimised rotation & selection across competitions

 

[yellowbean]

With the Club World Cup getting underway last night and the continued complaints about player fatigue, and the five (six with ET) subs rule. I have been mightily confused for a long time about why there isn't more calls for the European competition squad number limits to be raised by a player or two. Maybe one more foreign and one more HG would make more sense with the current playing field?

It seems odd that their rules are more restrictive than the national level rules, when they are the competitions that add games and squad challenges for the clubs competing in them.

I've often wondered this. Its been around 15 years since the 25 man squad rules came in but since then amount of subs you can use and have on the bench has increased.
So you are playing more games and using more of your squad per match day with no changes to overall squad allowance.

 

[N17-77]

Good post, Saorsie.
I expect we'll need to look at some players being used in different comps to one another, like that west London club did in Europe last season.

To an extent, it's a nice problem to have, ir better put, a step towards having a good long term solution, as various u21 players become eligible for the European B list (u21s) then later get club trained status on the A list.
The recent trend of buying a blend of senior pros (e.g Solanke,), young pros u23 (Johnson, Drăguşin), 18-21yos (Gray, Bergvall, Odobert, Tel) and also very young players for the future (Vušković, Melia) or the academy now (Russell-Denney) should set this pipeline up nicely for years to come, kicking in fully at senior level in 2026/27.

 

[Westmorlandspur]

Yeah, it's not the end of days or anything like that. Just does put us in this position right now where we have one senior CB unregistered and presumably not too happy about it (Dragusin), and a choice between leaving out another player who'd definitely get rotation minutes or risking not registering Kinsky. You'd rather not have to be making those choices, but it's the same ones we had to make in Europe last season, and that worked out alright in the end!

What we certainly can't do is make matters worse by increasing the size of the squad further, which is worth bearing in mind at this time of year.

Dragusin won’t be back till Xmas or later so he’s out till second half of euro comp if we get that far.

 

[bbunc]

Yeah, it's not the end of days or anything like that. Just does put us in this position right now where we have one senior CB unregistered and presumably not too happy about it (Dragusin), and a choice between leaving out another player who'd definitely get rotation minutes or risking not registering Kinsky. You'd rather not have to be making those choices, but it's the same ones we had to make in Europe last season, and that worked out alright in the end!

What we certainly can't do is make matters worse by increasing the size of the squad further, which is worth bearing in mind at this time of year.

The only part I’d disagree with a bit is the last sentence. A big chunk of these issues go away next season when Bergval and Gray can go to List B (26/27) then ultimately CT HG in 27/28 and beyond.

So if we are really doing long term planning, we shouldn’t be letting a 1 year situation where we can’t register someone impact our transfer strategy.

We will have 3-4x as many games domestically as we will in Europe next season. We can’t leave ourselves in a spot where we feel like we don’t have enough depth to compete domestically. If that means we have some weird stuff for 8-10 European games, so be it.

 

[mil1lion]

Surely the likes of Devine, Donley and Scarlett can be named on the club trained list so we don't lose places from the 25 for Europe

 

[fecka]

Surely the likes of Devine, Donley and Scarlett can be named on the club trained list so we don't lose places from the 25 for Europe

They are all considered U21 (even Scarlett, IIRC), and don't need to be registered this year, so there is no real benefit in registering them.

 

[tevezito]

They are all considered U21 (even Scarlett, IIRC), and don't need to be registered this year, so there is no real benefit in registering them.

And no point in buying back CT players such as Cirkin or Walker-Peters if we feel our U21s are more likely to play.

The only squad limit we need to worry about is 21 foreign + AT players with max 17 foreign.

 

[Westmorlandspur]

And no point in buying back CT players such as Cirkin or Walker-Peters if we feel our U21s are more likely to play.

The only squad limit we need to worry about is 21 foreign + AT players with max 17 foreign.

Why are we worrying

 

[Westmorlandspur]

Surely the likes of Devine, Donley and Scarlett can be named on the club trained list so we don't lose places from the 25 for Europe

We can name under 21 players who have been at the club for two years in list B. 26-27 we can name Gray and Bergvall in that list . Problem solved .

 

[mil1lion]

They are all considered U21 (even Scarlett, IIRC), and don't need to be registered this year, so there is no real benefit in registering them.

The benefit is so we don't lose any spaces in the overall 25 list though no? If we don't name 4 club trained we lose a space for each one we don't. It's the reason we named Whiteman even though we didn't need a 4th keeper.

 

[tevezito]

The benefit is so we don't lose any spaces in the overall 25 list though no? If we don't name 4 club trained we lose a space for each one we don't. It's the reason we named Whiteman even though we didn't need a 4th keeper.

We’re not losing a space, we’re just not taking it up. It’s not meaning less players can play, if those players are under 21.
Irrespective of how many CT players we have, we can only have 17 foreigners. So next season if Gray and Bergvall are registered they take up places in the 17, but we don’t lose places. In following years they won’t, so we will gain two more spots in the 17. The glass is half full!

 

[mil1lion]

We’re not losing a space, we’re just not taking it up. It’s not meaning less players can play, if those players are under 21.
Irrespective of how many CT players we have, we can only have 17 foreigners. So next season if Gray and Bergvall are registered they take up places in the 17, but we don’t lose places. In following years they won’t, so we will gain two more spots in the 17. The glass is half full!

Got it, thanks

 

[brasil_spur]

Why are we worrying

For me the reason we're worrying is that we're going to have to likely either A) omit current players from the CL squad or B) omit players that we're trying to sign from the CL squad.

Omitting players from playing in the CL doesn't do wonders for their love of the club.

Right now we have:

Non-HG: 1. Vicario 2. Kinsky 3. Porro 4. Romero 5. VDV 6. Danso 7. Dragusin 8. Udogie 9. Bissouma 10. Gray 11. Bergvall 12. Bentancur 13. Sarr 14. Deki 15. Tel 16. Son 17. Richarlison 18. Odobert.

HG Non-CT: 1. Davies 2. Spence 3. Madison 4. Solanke 5. Johnson

HG CT: 1. Austin

If we assume that Dragusin is out of the CL squad until Jan and that Davies can also be left out of the CL squad without major issues, then we have exactly 17 Non-HG and 4 HG non-CT players, which puts us at capacity.

Therefore ANY incoming players will need an equivalent outgoing player to be included in the CL squad.

Therefore ALL incoming players need to be an upgrade on the outgoing player, otherwise we'll have simply weakened the squad.

 

[cockerel downunder]

For me the reason we're worrying is that we're going to have to likely either A) omit current players from the CL squad or B) omit players that we're trying to sign from the CL squad.

Omitting players from playing in the CL doesn't do wonders for their love of the club.

Right now we have:

Non-HG: 1. Vicario 2. Kinsky 3. Porro 4. Romero 5. VDV 6. Danso 7. Dragusin 8. Udogie 9. Bissouma 10. Gray 11. Bergvall 12. Bentancur 13. Sarr 14. Deki 15. Tel 16. Son 17. Richarlison 18. Odobert.

HG Non-CT: 1. Davies 2. Spence 3. Madison 4. Solanke 5. Johnson

HG CT: 1. Austin

If we assume that Dragusin is out of the CL squad until Jan and that Davies can also be left out of the CL squad without major issues, then we have exactly 17 Non-HG and 4 HG non-CT players, which puts us at capacity.

Therefore ANY incoming players will need an equivalent outgoing player to be included in the CL squad.

Therefore ALL incoming players need to be an upgrade on the outgoing player, otherwise we'll have simply weakened the squad.

Agree on Dragusin but dropping Davies leaves us with only 6 defenders which leaves little wriggle room for rotation / injuries. Given the injury record of our defenders I think we need Davies as an option for cb & lb plus gives the option for a back 3 at times. Obviously if we can upgrade him even better but either way we’d need to drop a player from midfield or attack.

 

[cockerel downunder]

And no point in buying back CT players such as Cirkin or Walker-Peters if we feel our U21s are more likely to play.

The only squad limit we need to worry about is 21 foreign + AT players with max 17 foreign.

That’s fine as long as the u21 players are good enough to be given meaningful playing time in CL games. Otherwise we just leave ourselves short and this can also have knock on effects to PL games if certain players get overplayed.

a 22 man squad would be fine if you don’t get injuries but given that’s unlikely and given you can’t predict which positions injuries will come, I’d rather have as close to 25 senior players as possible, even if some are not the best available player they are still better than nothing.

under poch he was lucky with Kane & mason but he also persisted with winks and tanganga longer than he would have if they weren’t CT I think.

 

[Bluto Blutarsky]

Agree on Dragusin but dropping Davies leaves us with only 6 defenders which leaves little wriggle room for rotation / injuries. Given the injury record of our defenders I think we need Davies as an option for cb & lb plus gives the option for a back 3 at times. Obviously if we can upgrade him even better but either way we’d need to drop a player from midfield or attack.

7 defenders if you factor in Gray.

Also, with CL - we are likely to play the starting CBs in both competitions for most weeks - and not be as exposed defensively to require as much sprinting back.

I am also not convinced Davies will still be here at the start of the season.

I think we will replace Son, Richarlison and Bissouma - with two attackers and a CM.

But, if we add a defender - it will probably be someone who is used in the league, but not CL this season.

 

[newbie]

Yeah, it's not the end of days or anything like that. Just does put us in this position right now where we have one senior CB unregistered and presumably not too happy about it (Dragusin), and a choice between leaving out another player who'd definitely get rotation minutes or risking not registering Kinsky. You'd rather not have to be making those choices, but it's the same ones we had to make in Europe last season, and that worked out alright in the end!

What we certainly can't do is make matters worse by increasing the size of the squad further, which is worth bearing in mind at this time of year.

this year depending on sales we will be stronger, danso is an upgrade, grey, Lucas, sarr, Wilson, djed, tel are all going to be better, defence is a big issue we will need 1-2 cb / left back.

because of the games are on on Tuesday, Wednesday we’ll have more prep time for the Premier League and recovery time last season Europa league had the longer recovery time and prep time

do we prioritise the league this year? would be sensible to use the Champions League for experience for the future and play tactically and try and factor in we only need to get into the top 24 teams to qualify for two more games? How likely are we to come in the top eight? Next year, we could have huge fixture congestion we might need to be more tactical and make sacrifices.

7 defenders if you factor in Gray.

Also, with CL - we are likely to play the starting CBs in both competitions for most weeks - and not be as exposed defensively to require as much sprinting back.

I am also not convinced Davies will still be here at the start of the season.

I think we will replace Son, Richarlison and Bissouma - with two attackers and a CM.

But, if we add a defender - it will probably be someone who is used in the league, but not CL this season.

spot on

some players might have to play multiple positions we might have to use someone like Donnelly at left back/midfield to get the numbers up in the Champions League.