IF Manchester City are to progress through to the Champions League knockout stages tonight, they will have to do it without their three new recruits.
The Eithad club welcomed Abdukodir Khusanov, Vitor Reis and Omar Marmoush for big money in the last week.
Man City require a win if they are to progress to the playoff round for the last 16[/caption]
Marmoush had a massive impact on City in their 3-1 win against Chelsea and while Khusanov was at fault for the goal, he grew into the game.
However, the trio of £123million signings won’t be able to have any impact on the European stage despite being fit to feature.
Why can’t Man City’s new signings play in the Champions League?
According to Uefa rules, squads must be submitted before the League Phase begins and cannot be added to until the knockout stages.
City are allowed to add up to three new players into their Uefa squad if they progress into the knockout rounds, but it remains complicated.
The club must balance the homegrown quota – a minimum of eight “locally trained” players on their squad list with four from the club’s own youth system – with any new additions.
Will they be able to play if City qualify?
Uefa reminded clubs that its regulations, outlined in Article 32.02, allow additional registrations (beyond three) in specific scenarios for leagues that start and finish within the same calendar year:
- Four registrations: If more than five players from List A are no longer registered with their national federation as part of the club after the group stage, the team can add one additional player, increasing the total to four new eligible players.
- Five registrations: If more than seven players from List A are no longer part of the club under the same conditions, two additional players can be registered, raising the total to five.
Furthermore, Article 32.04 specifies that any or all players registered under these rules may have played for another team during the qualifying rounds, playoffs, or group stage of the Champions League, Europa League, or Conference League.
As it stands, City have exceed the limit with five locally trained players leaving just seven of the eight homegrown slots usable.
The stipulations may restrict how many January arrivals City could register with potentially leaving one or more out.
