A look at Liverpool’s squad as their on-field struggles continue, leaving their hopes of Champions League qualification in increasing doubt, and it’s clear what their primary issue is - their midfield.
An overhaul of the Reds’ engine room is planned for 2023, following on from their revamp in attack over the past 12 months. But it remains to be seen if Jurgen Klopp will be able to address such issues in January or if he will have to wait until the summer.
However, Liverpool have another cause of concern in their squad which is perhaps going under the radar - their quota of homegrown players.
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Clubs are required to name 25-man squads for Premier League and European action at the start of each season.
Made up of players over the age of 21, each Premier League squad must contain no more than 17 players who do not fulfil the ‘Home-grown player’ criteria. In other words, if you wish to name a full 25-man squad in the Premier League, you need to register eight home-grown players (a player who has been registered with any clubs affiliated to The Football Association or the Football Association of Wales for at least three seasons before the end of the season during which he turns 21).
It’s slightly more complicated in European competition, however. Again a squad can’t contain more than 17 players who do not qualify as ‘locally trained’. But from their eight local nominees, four must qualify as ‘club-trained’ and have been on a club's books for three years between the ages of 15 and 21 if they wish to name a full 25-man squad.
The other four local nominees are free to be ‘association-trained’ players who were on another club's books in the same association for three years between the ages of 15 and 21. And while you can include more than four of such players in your squad, they won’t count towards your required quota of eight ‘locally trained’ players.
Meanwhile, while you can select any Under-21s player in the Premier League without including them in your 25-man squad, in Europe you can only select Under-21s if you register them on ‘List B’. For a player to be eligible to be named on ‘List B’, they must have been eligible to play for the club concerned for any uninterrupted period of two years since his 15th birthday, 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.
As a result of such rules, Liverpool had to name both Fabio Carvalho and Calvin Ramsay in their squad for this season’s Champions League because even though both are under the age of the 21, the summer signings have not been on the books at Anfield long enough to be eligible to be registered on ‘List B’.
For the record, as Carvalho is already 20, he will never be eligible for a place on ‘List B’ as he’ll be over the age of 21 by the time he has enjoyed two uninterrupted seasons with the Reds. As a result, while he remains an Under-21s player in the eyes of the Premier League both this season and next, Liverpool will need to keep naming him in their squad for European competition if they wish to select him.
So now all the rules are out of the way, why do the Reds have a problem? Well, in short, they don’t have enough home-grown/locally-trained players, and are unable to name a full 25-man squad as a result. While a number of talented players under the age of 21 ensure Klopp isn’t left short, it is not ideal.
As things stand, Liverpool are only able to name a 24-man squad as they only possess seven home-grown players for Premier League action, and while Carvalho raises that total to eight in the Champions League, the Reds only possess three ‘club-trained’ players.
Now there is an easy fix to this ‘dilemma’ for the 2023/24 season thanks to Curtis Jones. The midfielder is currently an Under-21s/’List B’ player but, set to turn 22 at the end of January, will need to be registered in both squads next season after coming of age.
As a result, Liverpool will have eight home-grown players over the age of 21 and four ‘club-trained’ players, leaving them free to name a full 25-man squad. Perfect, nobody move!
Except, when you look at the Reds’ other home-grown players, it becomes clear that a number of them could be leaving Anfield in the not-too-distant future.
James Milner and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain are both out of contract in the summer and are poised to depart on Bosman transfers. Meanwhile, it would be no surprise if Nat Phillips and Caoimhin Kelleher looked to leave in search of starting football elsewhere.
Throw in the ageing Jordan Henderson, who will celebrate his 33rd birthday in June, and Liverpool’s home-grown options are dwindling. Trent Alexander-Arnold and Joe Gomez make up the quota, in case you were wondering, with both also qualifying as ‘club-trained’.
If all four aforementioned players left the Reds in the summer, Klopp would be left with just four home-grown players and five ‘locally-trained’ players, of which only three would qualify as ‘club-trained’. As a result, as things stand in such a scenario, Liverpool would only be able to name a maximum squad of 21 in the Premier League and 22 in European competition next season.
Admittedly such totals could rise further next season thanks to the presence of academy graduates Rhys Williams and Leighton Clarkson, who both turn 22 in 2023 and are currently away on loan at Blackpool and Aberdeen respectively. However, they will have it all to do to establish themselves as prominent players in Klopp’s first team squad if they don’t again depart. Meanwhile, the same could arguably be said of Tyler Morton, who will turn 22 in 2024 and is currently on loan at Blackburn Rovers, though he remains an Under-21s/’List B’ player until the 2024/25 season.
Fortunately the Reds have already started to address this in the long-term courtesy of their recruitment at Academy level. Having joined from Fulham, Derby County, and Newcastle United, Harvey Elliott, Kaide Gordon, and Bobby Clark already qualify as home-grown but are set to be classed as ‘club-trained’ when no longer Under-21s players come the 2025/26, 2026/27 and 2027/28 seasons respectively.
Meanwhile, Calvin Ramsay, Stefan Bajcetic, and Ben Doak will have been on Liverpool’s books long enough before their 21st birthdays to gain home-grown status following their moves from Aberdeen, Celta Vigo, and Celtic. They will also qualify as ‘club-trained’ players when the time comes, again in the 2025/26, 2026/27 and 2027/28 seasons respectively.
However, Bajcetic and Gordon are only just joining Elliott as eligible for places on ‘List B’ this winter, with Ramsay, Clark and Doak needing to take up senior squad places this season and next at least if Klopp wished to select them.
Therefore, it’s clear that while the Reds have enough talented Under-21s players to make up numbers to an extent, they are in need of more senior home-grown players, in the short-term at least, if they are to avoid having their hands tied and be capable of naming squads closer to the full 25-man quota.
Liverpool do seem to be addressing this too, however, with it inevitably a welcome bonus if they are to be successful in signing longstanding midfield target Jude Bellingham come the summer.
Meanwhile, with Adrian out of contract at the end of the season, the Reds continue to be linked with a move for World Cup winner Ron-Robert Zieler. The former Germany international, who is currently on the books of Hannover 96 in 2.Bundesliga, is also out of contract in the summer, though his club do have the option to extend his contract by a further year once he hits 25 appearances this season.
However, currently on 17 matches, Bild report that Zieler and his representatives are actually disappointed that Hannover haven’t offered him a longer extension or shown any desire to open contract talks, with the goalkeeper believing he deserves a longer deal on better terms.
Now free to talk to overseas clubs regarding a Bosman transfer as a result, Liverpool have again been credited with interest in Zieler over in Germany, with it claimed they want to sign him on a free transfer.
And the 33-year-old would actually qualify as home-grown and ‘association-trained’ to further bolster the Reds’ quotas, courtesy of starting his senior career with Manchester United. The goalkeeper never actually made an appearance for the Red Devils, but joined them from FC Koln in July 2005 when still only 16, and enjoyed five seasons in the Old Trafford youth ranks before returning to Germany and first signing for Hannover 96 in 2010.
Should Liverpool sign Zieler, who also enjoyed a season-long stint with Leicester City in 2016/17, next summer, if he is willing to serve as a back-up option, his presence would enable them to name a larger senior squad courtesy of that home-grown status, and help cover the potential losses of Milner and Oxlade-Chamberlain, if not Phillips and Kelleher.
While it remains to be seen who will leave Anfield next summer, Naby Keita and Roberto Firmino are also out of contract, alongside Adrian, while loanee Arthur Melo is set to return to Juventus. As a result, while all 17 overseas spaces are currently filled, the Reds could have a number of openings for future signings across the board come the summer too.
As a result, there is plenty for Klopp and Liverpool’s recruitment team to consider as transfer plans for next season continue to take shape and the Reds look to address their ongoing squad issues.
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