According to several media outlets, Monday’s
announcement from the Premier
League regarding squad sizes means Liverpool will
have to “overhaul” their squad next summer.
The new requirements from the League mean each club must
register a squad of 25 players, 8 of which must be “homegrown” –
much like the Champions League requirements.
Liverpool recently submitted their squad for the Champions
League group stages, with only Philipp
Degen and Nabil
El Zhar (currently injured) omitted from the
squad in order to achieve the required quota.
Next season when the ruling comes into play in the Premier
League both Emiliano Insua and Daniel
Pacheco will qualify as homegrown players as they have been at the
the club for 3 years or more under the age of 21, as have a host of
other players listed as in the Reds’ current squad.
Furthmore, of the “56 registered professionals” the
Guardian cites as being
problematic for Liverpool, almost half of the 56 players listed are
actually 21 or under – who do not affect the 25 man squad size. So
when you read articles declaring “Liverpool and several other
Premier League clubs will have to dramatically overhaul their
playing staffs for next season” don’t believe the rubbish, the
truth is we are more than comfortable and these new rulings will
hardly affect us.
In fact, while the official website lists 56 players in our
first team squad, the more appropriate number is indeed 28 players
(current
LFC squad) – discounting players out on loan and
unlikely to appear this season.