Ronald Araujo signing exposes barrier to Bradley Barcola to Liverpool transfer
Liverpool have found themselves in a problematic situation after the signing of Ronald Araujo, and if they wanted to register everyone in their current squad for the Premier League, they would be unable to sign Bradley Barcola.
Premier League rules state that clubs can register only 17 non-homegrown players aged over 22.
The full squad of 25 must then be made up of players who are homegrown. A homegrown player is defined as a player who was registered to an English club for three years before the age of 21.
This means players like Jeremie Frimpong count as homegrown players, as he was at Manchester City in his youth career, despite being a Dutch international.
With Ronald Araújo confirmed, here's where Liverpool's squad stands for 2026-27.
Araújo is the 17th senior non-homegrown player, which hits the limit. So it's now mostly one in, one out for #LFC. pic.twitter.com/2hRNyMNfg1
— Michael Reid (@michael_reid11) August 10, 2026
Players who were born in 2005 or later do not count as part of the 25-man Premier League squad and therefore don’t count as part of the 17 non-homegrown player limit.
Liverpool’s current non-homegrown players
Alisson Becker
Giorgi Mamardashvili
Calvin Ramsay
Virgil van Dijk
Ronald Araujo
Milos Kerkez
Kostas Tsimikas
Wataru Endo
Dominik Szoboszlai
Alexis Mac Allister
Ryan Gravenberch
Florian Wirtz
Hugo Ekitike
Federico Chiesa
Cody Gakpo
Alexander Isak
Victory Munoz
How can Liverpool solve their squad size issue?
The long and short of the problem is that Liverpool will need to sell or loan a non-homegrown player in order to sign and register a new one, such as Bradley Barcola.
The easiest way for Liverpool to find a space in the squad would be to complete the sale of one of the rumoured moves. Cody Gakpo has been linked to Spurs for a move that is in the region of £70 million, while Real Madrid have been rumoured to be interested in Alexis Mac Allister for a similar price. Either of these moves would not only free up a squad position, but also help with the finances of another big signing.
There have also been suggestions in the media that Liverpool would be willing to let Wataru Endo leave the club, with the Japanese midfielder’s name being offered around other clubs.
Links with an exit for Federico Chiesa had also circulated earlier in the summer.
The final solution would be another loan for Calvin Ramsay, who has been at the club since 2022 but is yet to play a competitive game for Liverpool.
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