Aston Villa can add new players to their Europa League squad for the knockout rounds
Tammy Abraham of Aston Villa
Tammy Abraham of Aston Villa(Image: PA)
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Aston Villa are set to complete their winter transfer business tonight as the hours tick down on deadline day.
The window officially slams shut for Premier League clubs at 7pm this evening, but Villa boss Unai Emery does not expect the club to be busy today.
He already has a few new players in his squad, one of them being Leon Bailey after he was recalled from a loan spell at AS Roma.
Douglas Luiz was signed on loan from Juventus due to Youri Tielemans’ absence for the next two months. Returning to the club last week, Villa also have an option to buy Luiz for £21.6 million.
Tammy Abraham also returned to the club in a deal worth £18 million from Besiktas and, like Luiz, made his second debut for Villa on Sunday in the defeat to Brentford.
Villa also signed Brian Madjo from FC Metz, but the 17-year-old is not expected to be involved in the first team, aside from gaining exposure through training at Bodymoor Heath.
Alysson was Villa’s first January signing, joining as a young winger from Grêmio. However, he has been dealing with injury in his first few weeks at the club and has yet to make his debut.
Just like last year, Villa only have room to add three new players to their squad for the knockout rounds of the European competition they are competing in - the Europa League.
UEFA rules state: “After the completion of the league phase and before the start of the knockout phase, a club may register a maximum of three new eligible players for the remaining matches in the current competition. Such registrations must be completed by 5 February 2026 (24:00 CET) at the latest.”
Four players in the 25-man List A squad must be club-trained, and four must be association-trained, leaving 17 places for players without any restrictive criteria.
However, Lamare Bogarde is the only player in Villa’s first-team squad who could be classed as ‘club-trained’, although he can instead be listed in the B squad.
Essentially, this means there are 21 places available for Emery to fill with first-team players, although certain other stipulations apply. For example, each team must include at least two goalkeepers in List A and at least three goalkeepers when combining Lists A and B.
Villa named 21 players in their List A squad for the league phase due to their lack of club-trained players and are likely to do the same again for the knockouts.
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Ross Barkley was the only player to miss out on the league phase squad, but he was called up after Tyrone Mings suffered an injury before later dropping out again.
Each club was permitted to make one change to their List A squad before matchday six of the Europa League league phase, provided the player being replaced was injured for at least 60 days from the date the injury occurred.
UEFA do not mention this rule being applicable to the knockout stages, however, which would be disappointing for Villa given Boubacar Kamara is sidelined for the remainder of the campaign.
If that is the case, Kamara would likely be one of the three players removed from Villa’s List A squad, alongside Donyell Malen and Evann Guessand, who both left the club during the winter window.
Tammy Abraham and Douglas Luiz would then come into the squad, with Leon Bailey expected to be the third addition, considering Alysson has not yet featured.
Harvey Elliott is another key talking point, as Villa have not yet agreed with Liverpool to remove the obligation-to-buy clause, which is triggered after 10 appearances.
The midfielder has played seven times for Villa, meaning that if the clause is not removed, he can only feature in two more matches for the club.
Here’s what Villa’s List A squad for the knockout rounds could look like:
Goalkeepers: Emi Martínez, Marco Bizot.
Defenders: Matty Cash, Andrés García, Ezri Konsa, Victor Lindelöf, Tyrone Mings, Pau Torres, Lucas Digne, Ian Maatsen.
Midfielders: Douglas Luiz, Amadou Onana, Youri Tielemans, John McGinn.
Attackers: Ollie Watkins, Tammy Abraham, Leon Bailey, Emi Buendía, Morgan Rogers, Jadon Sancho, Harvey Elliott.
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