Klopp forced to remove first-teamer from Europa League squad due to strict rules

Jurgen Klopp is determined to win the only major trophy that has eluded him by leading Liverpool to success in the Europa League.

However, Klopp faces a challenging task of selecting his squad for the tournament due to UEFA's strict rules. As per the governing body's regulations, Klopp can only include 17 overseas players in his Europa League squad, one fewer than in the Premier League.

This means that some of Liverpool's senior stars will not be available for the European competition. The Reds, who have reached three of the previous six Champions League finals, are considered favourites to win the Europa League.

They have been drawn in Group E alongside Austrian side LASK, Belgian hopefuls Union Saint-Gilloise and French outfit Toulouse. Despite high expectations, Klopp will have to make do without a full compliment of senior players, reports the Mirror.

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In European competitions, players are classified as List A or List B. List A can have up to 25 players, with eight of them being homegrown.

To qualify as homegrown, an overseas player must have been on the club's books for three years between the ages of 15 and 21. On the other hand, List B players must be born on or after January 1, 2002, and have been eligible to play for the club for an uninterrupted period of two years (or three years if they've completed a loan spell).

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For example, Liverpool's 20-year-old Brazilian goalkeeper Marcelo Pitaluga would be considered a List A player because he spent time on loan at Macclesfield last season after joining the Reds in October 2020. UEFA also requires clubs to name at least two List A goalkeepers.

This means that Klopp may have to exclude one of Alisson, Adrian or Caoimhin Kelleher from the Europa League squad since having all three goalkeepers may not be necessary. Alternatively, the German manager could omit an injured player from the squad.

Players like Trent Alexander-Arnold, Thiago Alcantara and Ibrahima Konate are currently nursing injuries, and their availability for the Europa League is uncertain. Klopp does have the option to make changes to his squad if Liverpool progress to the knockout stages of the tournament.

While Klopp has not publicly announced his Europa League squad yet, all participating teams had a deadline of 11pm on Monday to submit their squad for the group stage to UEFA.

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