Manchester City have some headroom in their squad for Premier League and Champions League but that could quickly disappear
Marc Guehi and Antoine Semenyo of Manchester City applaud the fans after the UEFA Champions League 2025/26 Round of 16 Second Leg match between Manchester City FC and Real Madrid CF at City of Manchester Stadium on March 17, 2026 in Manchester, England
Semenyo and Guehi could help Manchester City homegrown quotas for the Champions League(Image: 2026 Allstar)
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Enzo Maresca has a core of Manchester City players that will be central to his first season in charge at the Etihad. Pep Guardiola settled on a clutch of stars for the final months of the last campaign that can all expect to be important to the new regime.
Erling Haaland, Nico O'Reilly, Rayan Cherki, Jeremy Doku and Josko Gvardiol are part of a youthful core that can help City in their next chapter, and there are more names to add to that. There is also, however, uncertainty over plenty in the squad with the fringes less clear.
Savinho and Rodri are among those with futures that are not certain while there are also others who will be jockeying for more of a chance under Maresca with the midfield makeup particularly interesting to see. Elliot Anderson will come in but may not be the only signing and Nico Gonzalez and Tijjani Reijnders both saw their game time vanish in the second half of last season.
Many of the pieces of the puzzle that is the summer transfer window still have to fall into place, and one of the aspects that City will have to be mindful of is the homegrown rules that apply for the Premier League and Champions League. James Trafford and Rico Lewis could follow John Stones out of the exit door this summer, but homegrown players have to be replaced.
Competition rules state that four players have to have come through a club's academy and four more to have come through the youth system in England in order for teams to be able to name a maximum of 25 players in their squads. Regardless of if these quotas are filled, there cannot be more than 17 players registered that are not homegrown.
Antoine Semenyo and Marc Guehi both qualify as association-trained players, as does Marcus Bettinelli, and if Nathan Ake stays that will make four. As it stands, Trafford and Lewis count as club-trained alongside O'Reilly and Phil Foden.
Two spots have opened up for City given the departures of Silva and Stones (don't ask on Stones, it's complicated) but Elliot Anderson would take one of those if Ake stays and City are obviously in the market for more signings this summer. Unlike in the Premier League, the Champions League does not make an exception for Under-21 players that aren't homegrown so Vitor Reis, Claudio Echeverri, Sverre Nypan and others would all have to count as one of 17 if they stay with the first team this year.
City currently have the headroom to be able to cope with UEFA demands, but will have to keep on the right side of the regulations when they are finished with their transfer business or risk some unpopular decisions to leave players out of squads.