Eddie Howe, manager of Newcastle United, may struggle to name a bench for Tuesday’s Champions League match against Paris Saint-Germain (kick-off 8 p.m.).
The Magpies were missing 13 senior players for Saturday’s 4-1 win over Chelsea, and Howe fielded a nine-man bench that included three goalkeepers, four under-21s players, and the experienced duo of Matt Ritchie and Paul Dummett.
However, United will be forced to drop four of those players from the matchday squad in Paris due to UEFA Champions League regulations.
In the Champions League, a squad of 17 players can be named with no restrictions. Clubs must then include up to eight more homegrown players in their squad in order to name more players.
To name a full squad of 25, at least four of the eight homegrown players must be club-trained. If a club is unable to fill its homegrown or club-trained player quotas, its squad size will be reduced.
While players born before January 1, 2002 do not need to be included in the 25-man squad, they do need to be included on the ‘B List’. However, to be eligible, they must have played for the club for an uninterrupted period of at least two years or three years including a one-year loan spell.
Lewis Miley falls into this category, but Alex Murphy and Amadou Diallo, who both made their Premier League debuts over the weekend, do not, having joined the club’s academy only a year ago from Galway United and West Ham United, respectively.
Howe, on the other hand, has the option of recalling Ben Parkinson and Michael Ndiweni. Lucas de Bolle, who traveled to Borussia Dortmund last time out, could also return to the squad.
In order for players to be eligible to play, a ‘B List’ of an unlimited number of players must be submitted by midnight the day before a match.
In addition to the aforementioned three club-trained first-team players in Elliot Anderson, Sean Longstaff, and Paul Dummett, Newcastle can only name a ‘List A’ squad of up to 24 players, or 23 players with Elliot Anderson named in ‘List B’.
As a result, Emil Krafth, Matt Ritchie, Javier Manquillo, and Mark Gillespie were left off the squad when it was submitted in August and will not be able to compete in the Champions League.
Krafth missed the win over Chelsea due to illness, but he would have been fine for the trip to France. Meanwhile, Ritchie and Gillespie sat out on Saturday. Manquillo has also been injured.
UEFA rules permit clubs to name 12 substitutes but it’s very unlikely Newcastle will reach that number when the teammate lands at the Parc des Princes.
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