Liverpool sealed their fourth and final signing of the summer on deadline day as Arthur Melo arrived at Anfield. Having seen their start to the season plagued by injury, particularly in midfield, the Reds signed the Brazil international on a season-long loan deal from Juventus.
The 26-year-old will go straight into Jurgen Klopp’ s squad for Premier League action and, should he be match fit, be eligible to make his debut in Saturday’s Merseyside derby against Everton at Goodison Park.
Clubs are allowed to name a maximum squad of 25 players, not including Under-21s players born on or after January 1, 2001, with that quota required to include at least eight homegrown players if they are to name a full squad. Liverpool possess seven homegrown players, however, so Klopp is only able to name a 24-man squad at best.
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Fortunately for the Reds, qualifying Under-21s players such as Curtis Jones, Fabio Carvalho, Harvey Elliott and Calvin Ramsay ensure they won’t be left short. Meanwhile, even with Arthur ’s arrival, Liverpool will only have 16 senior overseas players on their books meaning they will only fill 23 of their 24 potential berths.
However, UEFA rules make it a little bit more complicated when it comes to filing a 25-man squad for the Champions League, with the Brazilian’s arrival ensuring that one senior player is poised to be left out of the Reds’ squad for European competition.
Liverpool again don’t possess enough homegrown players to name a full 25-man squad, with them only able to fill three of the four required club-trained spots that make up their eight-man qualifying quota. Again, they can only name a maximum 24 players as a result.
However, with UEFA’s rules regarding Under-21s players differing to the Premier League’s, they would need to include a handful of their underage players if they wish to select them in Europe this season. Already possessing 23 senior players including Arthur, his arrival ensures that a number of players are set to be left out.
The likes of Ramsay, Carvalho, Stefan Bajcetic, Kaide Gordon and Bobby Clark are all classed as Under-21s players in the Premier League but none of the quintet currently qualify for the UEFA equivalent (List B).
UEFA rules state: “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. Players aged 16 may be submitted if they have been registered with the club for the previous two years without interruption.”
With Ramsay and Carvalho both new signings, they would have to be registered in Liverpool’s 25-man squad as a result, with such rules previously resulting in Elliott also needing to be registered despite being Under-21, though he has now been at the club long enough to qualify for List B. The same applies for Bajcetic and Gordon, having only been at Anfield for 18 months, as well as Clark following his own move to Merseyside last summer.
Realistically, Bajcetic, Gordon and Clark will all be left out of Klopp’s Champions League squad as a result, and instead compete in the UEFA Youth League this season. Meanwhile, Carvalho is the most likely to fill that last remaining berth in Liverpool’s 24-man squad following his strong start to the season.
But should the Reds wish to include Ramsay as well, it would suggest that one of their injured players will miss out and is likely enough of a long-term absentee to miss the majority of these condensed Champions League group-stages.
With the group-stages getting underway next Tuesday, Liverpool open their own European campaign 24 hours later away at Napoli on September 7. Meanwhile, due to the 2022 World Cup getting underway in November, the Reds' sixth and final Champions League group game falls at home to Napoli over a month earlier than normal on November 1.
After welcoming Curtis Jones and Joel Matip back to their matchday squad after injury against Newcastle United on Wednesday night, Klopp has already confirmed he expected Diogo Jota to return to training on Thursday, with the likes of Thiago Alcantara not too far behind. However, Naby Keita, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Ibrahima Konate all look set to be longer-term absentees, while it remains to be seen how long Jordan Henderson could be sidelined for after limping off with a hamstring injury against the Magpies.
As a result, when Liverpool submit their squad for the Champions League group-stages, which they are required to file with the relevant association to be verified, validated and forwarded to UEFA by 24:00 CET on Friday 2 September, the Reds could also provide an injury update of sorts on one of their walking wounded in the process.
If one of their injured players is left out, it would appear that Liverpool expect to be without said individual until late October at best, unless said snub means that the left out player is not a key part of Klopp’s plans regardless. However, it is worth noting that any player the German does leave out could not be one of their seven senior homegrown options as rather than leave a space that Arthur would fill, they would instead create a further vacancy for another senior homegrown player that the club currently don't possess, limiting the size of their squad further.
As a result, Keita or Konate are perhaps the players most at risk of the axe if Klopp does leave out an injured player. Either way, when it comes to filling the Reds’ squad for Champions League action, Klopp will be in close contact with the club’s medical staff as he weighs up a decision.
However, there is an alternative for the Liverpool boss to consider. With each club required to include at least two goalkeepers on List A and at least three in total (List A and List B combined), it’s also possible that the German could leave out third-choice goalkeeper Adrian and call upon youngster Harvey Davies to make up numbers behind Alisson and Caoimhin Kelleher instead.
Such a decision would be a gamble, but it could be one worth taking as, in the unlikely situation that the Reds would be in a situation where they needed to turn to Adrian, UEFA rules could permit them to make a temporary change. 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.
So with Arthur on board, Klopp has plenty to ponder as he debates which one of his 23 senior Liverpool players or summer signings Carvalho and Ramsay will be left out and ineligible to play in Europe for the first half of the season.
Potential Liverpool Champions League squad
Goalkeepers: Alisson Becker, Caoimhin Kelleher (club-trained).
Defenders: Joe Gomez (club-trained), Virgil van Dijk, Ibrahima Konate, Joel Matip, Kostas Tsimikas, Calvin Ramsay, Andy Robertson, Nat Phillips (association-trained), Trent Alexander-Arnold (club-trained).
Midfielders: Fabinho, Thiago Alcantara, James Milner (association-trained), Naby Keita, Jordan Henderson (association-trained), Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (association-trained), Arthur Melo.
Forwards: Roberto Firmino, Mohamed Salah, Diogo Jota, Luis Diaz, Darwin Nunez, Fabio Carvalho.
Selected List B (qualifying Under-21s players): Curtis Jones, Harvey Elliott, Isaac Mabaya, Jake Cain, James Norris, Jarrell Quansah, Dominic Corness, Layton Stewart, Thomas Hill, Harvey Blair, Oakley Cannonier, Luke Chambers, Harvey Davies.
Left out player: Adrian
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