ston Villa have left £30million Deadline Day signing Taylor Harwood-Bellis out of their Champions League squad for the league phase in a major early decision from Unai Emery.
UEFA has now published Villa’s official 23-man List A, with Harwood-Bellis absent just days after completing his permanent move from Southampton.
The England international joined Villa in a package worth £25m plus a potential £5m in add-ons after Southampton rejected two earlier offers.
Aston Villa leave Taylor Harwood-Bellis out of Champions League squad
Harwood-Bellis is the standout omission after being recruited following Ezri Konsa’s departure to Arsenal.
Villa’s registered defenders are Matty Cash, Victor Lindelöf, Tyrone Mings, Matteo Ruggeri, Pau Torres, Ian Maatsen, Lamare Bogarde and Aaron Wan-Bissaka.
New arrivals Ibrahim Mbaye, Nicolas Jackson, Alejandro Garnacho, Leon Goretzka and Wan-Bissaka have all been included, while Harwood-Bellis misses out. Brian Madjo and Modou Keba Cissé are also absent from List A.
The omission comes only days after Read Aston Villa reported Villa completing the Harwood-Bellis signing.
UEFA rules allow clubs to register a maximum of 25 List A players, but eight places are reserved for locally trained players and no more than four of those can be association-trained rather than club-trained. Clubs unable to satisfy those requirements effectively lose places from their maximum squad size.
talkSPORT reports that Villa’s homegrown situation restricted Emery to a 23-man List A, forcing difficult decisions following the summer rebuild.
Harwood-Bellis can still play domestically and could eventually enter Villa’s European squad if competition rules later permit changes.
For now, however, one of Villa’s two major Deadline Day signings will watch the opening Champions League league-phase fixtures from the outside.
