Liverpool have until Sunday, September 3 at 11 p.m. to submit their team for this season’s Europa League group stage
Ryan Gravenberch has given Liverpool a slight headache after arriving on transfer deadline day.
The Dutchman joined Liverpool from Bayern Munich in a deal worth up to £40 million, following in the footsteps of Alexis MacAllister, Dominik Szoboszlai, and Wataru Endo as part of a £150 million midfield renovation led by Jurgen Klopp. The Reds’ patience paid off as they signed the 21-year-old, who had been a long-term Liverpool target.
However, his presence may compel Klopp to leave one player out of his team for the Europa League group stage this season.
The Europa League squad rules are the same as the Champions League squad rules, with teams able to name a maximum 25-man squad made up of List A players. Eight spaces are earmarked for locally trained players from that quota, with sides not permitted to register more than four association-trained players among those eight places.
Following the summer departures of Jordan Henderson, James Milner, and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, as well as the loan departures of Nat Phillips and Sepp van den Berg, Liverpool currently lacks any qualifying association-trained players. They do, however, have six club-trained players (Trent Alexander-Arnold, Joe Gomez, Caoimhin Kelleher, Curtis Jones, Vitezslav Jaros, and Paul Glatzel) and, as a result, can name a maximum 23-man team if they select all of those.
Aside from domestically trained players, teams can select up to 17 abroad players from List A as part of their 25-man roster, as well as as many qualifying Under-21s players from List B as they like. The Reds presently have 16 abroad players over the age of 21 on their roster.
Despite being categorized as Under-21s under Premier League criteria, neither Gravenberch nor highly-rated prodigy Ben Doak are eligible for a spot on List B. This is due to the fact that “a player may be registered on List B if he was born on or after 1 January 2002 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.”
Doak joined the club from Celtic last summer, and Gravenberch has only recently joined the Reds, therefore neither has the needed ‘uninterrupted period of two years’ at Anfield. As a result, they are competing for the final foreign spot in the senior 25-man team.
If they were in the Champions League, Klopp’s decision would be simple. Select his new £40 million signing in Gravenberch, while Doak must make do with UEFA Youth League participation for another season. However, with the 17-year-old impressing throughout pre-season after a standout first season on Merseyside, the Europa League was viewed as an excellent opportunity to give the winger first-team minutes.
After all, Klopp is expected to rotate his team in Europe’s secondary competition at first, while there is no Europa League counterpart to the UEFA Youth League for the club’s younger players to compete in.
While Bobby Clark, Conor Bradley, and Jarell Quansah can be named to List B alongside senior players Harvey Elliott and Stefan Bajcetic and still play in the Europa League, Doak will not have the same opportunity if he is the unfortunate player to make way following Gravenberch’s arrival.
However, one UEFA rule may allow Klopp to select both players in his 25-man Europa League squad at the expense of one of their senior team-mates.
Clubs must have at least two goalkeepers on List A and a total of three (Lists A and B combined). Liverpool presently has four goalkeepers who would have to be registered on List A (Alisson, Adrian, Kelleher, and Jaros), as well as Marcelo Pitaluga on List B.
Kelleher and Jaros are now both part of the Reds’ quota of domestically trained players. While the Irishman is almost set to be chosen, and may even start ahead of Alisson in the Europa League group stages if Klopp rotates his team, if Jaros is not chosen, Liverpool’s squad shrinks to 22 men.
In the latter scenario, the Reds would be safe if either Alisson or Kelleher were to leave. According to UEFA rules, if a club cannot rely on the services of at least two goalkeepers on List A due to a long-term injury or illness (i.e. one that lasts more than 30 days), the club can temporarily replace him at any time throughout the season.
As a result, if Alisson and Kelleher were Liverpool’s only two goalkeepers on List A for the Europa League group stages, and either was unavailable, Klopp could replace them temporarily with Adrian or Jaros at a later date.
In reality, supporters would prefer such a low-risk bet if it insured that all senior abroad outfield players, including Gravenberch, are named to the Reds’ team and that Doak is still given game time in this season’s Europa League. But it remains to be seen whether Klopp is willing to make such a move at the price of a backup goalkeeper.
Liverpool squad for the Europa League group stages (CT stands for club-trained)
Alisson, Caoimhin Kelleher (CT), and Vitezslav Jaros (CT) are the goalkeepers.
Joe Gomez (CT), Virgil van Dijk, Ibrahima Konate, Kostas Tsimikas, Andy Robertson, Joel Matip, and Trent Alexander-Arnold (CT) are the defenders.
Wataru Endo, Thiago Alcantara, Dominik Szoboszlai, Alexis Mac Allister, Curtis Jones (CT), Ryan Gravenberch are the midfielders.
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