Report: Why Tottenham named a smaller Europa League squad than rules allow

Football.London’s Alasdair Gold explains that Ange Postecoglou had no choice but to leave out two senior players from the Europa League squad due to UEFA’s homegrown rules.

Djed Spence and Sergio Reguilon miss out

On Thursday, Spurs confirmed their Europa League squad but instead of the 25-man squad that is allowed, the club only named 23 players, with Djed Spence and Sergio Reguilon missing out.

While Reguilon’s absence was expected, Spence’s omission was surprising since the right-back had battled his way back into Ange Postecoglou’s plans over the summer after it seemed like his time at the club had run out.

Gold has now pointed out that out of the 25-man squad, UEFA’s rules state that eight have to be homegrown.

Squad rules forced Postecoglou’s hand

Among the eight homegrown, four need to be club-trained players while the other four can be association-trained players.

However, Spurs only had two club-trained players in their list (Brandan Austin and Alfie Whiteman) after letting the likes of Japhet Tanganga and Oliver Skipp leave.

That meant that the Lilywhites’ squad size had to be lowered by two, with Spence being the one to miss out.

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The only other player that Ange could have left out is Fraser Forster but that would have been a massive gamble as he would have had to rely on Whiteman or Austin if Vicario had picked up an injury.

Whatever the case, Spence is extremely unfortunate to have been left out, but it should guarantee that he gets a fair few starts in the cups and maybe even the league.

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