The transfer window officially closed in most major European championships on Monday evening. And one thing is certain: Manchester City spent without counting to hope to get out of the crisis. With the arrivals of Nico Gonzalez, Abdukodir Khusanov, Vitor Reis and Omar Marmoush, the Cityzens will have new blood for the second part of the season. After having narrowly hooked his ticket for the Champions League dams by winning the 8th and final day of the championship phase, Pep Guardiola troops are preparing to challenge Carlo Ancelotti Real Madrid next week. For the Catalan coach, this golden poster is a good way to start from the front despite a far from simple calendar:
“It already looks like a derby, four years in a row against Madrid. Madrid or Bayern, the two were very difficult, I hope we can arrive in the first leg here and the next match in Madrid as best as possible. We started in Paris, then in Chelsea. We are therefore already at the stage of difficult matches. The calendar is. This is always the case in the Premier League, they always put the most difficult matches, they are always very nice with the calendar. This is what has been going on for many years“He said. If Sky Blues can now comtper on several winter reinforcements added during the transfer window, these new recruits may not know the scent of this double golden poster against Real Madrid.
The transfer window stucks the UEFA list
According to UEFA rules, clubs playing in Europe can only include a maximum of three new players in their team of the direct elimination phase from their championship phase list. And they have not long to decide which one, the deadline for registering these players approaching Thursday, February 6 at midnight. This is a problem for many teams, especially for the Cityzens, led by Pep Guardiola, who was the biggest expenditure in the Premier League with four new permanent recruitments, for an amount of 218 million euros. Last September, the clubs participating in European competitions filed a registration list for the league phases of their respective competitions. Registration is made up of two lists: List A and List B. The second does not really affect Manchester City since it is mainly made up of young players aged 21 or under at the start of the season who were registered at the club during Three consecutive and uninterrupted years from the age of 15. But it is in list A that the main players are. No club can have more than 25 players on list A during the season – and at least two must be goalkeepers. In addition, eight of these 25 players must be “trained locally”.
At least four players must have evolved in the club for three years between 15 and 21 years. The rest can be made up of players trained at the club and belonging to the same category, but they may have played for another club in the same championship. If you cannot reach this quota, the size of your list A will be reduced to 23 players. The main problem is that clubs are only allowed to register a maximum of three new players eligible after the end of the championship phase and before the start of the direct elimination phase. Nico Gonzalez, Abdukodir Khusanov, Vitor Reis and Omar Marmoush all signed last month, while City also counts on Claudio Echeverri, recruited from River Plate last year, who should join City later this month. All these players should be integrated into list A. But there are not enough City players on list A who have left the club so that the five players are all registered. Guardiola must therefore think. What are the two players he will leave aside for the Champions League matches only?
