Unai Emery has chosen his Aston Villa squad for the challenges ahead in the UEFA Europa Conference League, with six changes made to the previously elected side.
Aston Villa have revealed the 22-man squad that Unai Emery has selected to take forward in the UEFA Europa Conference League.
Six revisions have been made to the squad that represented the Villans in the qualifiers and group stages of the tournament, with two new signings making the fold.
The changes that Unai Emery has made to Villa’s UECL squad
As well as the senior members of the squad, clubs in the competition can select an unlimited number of players born after January 1st 2002 to represent list B, ensuring that the individuals have been eligible to represent the club for a minimum of two years.
To allow for the inclusion of new signings Morgan Rogers and Joe Gauci and the return of Tim Iroegbunam from injury, Bertrand Traore, Leander Dendoncker and Calum Chambers have been snubbed.
With both Traore and Dendoncker departing the club, their omission was guaranteed however, the expulsion of Chambers may come as a surprise despite the manager confirming that the Englishman could leave the club last month.
It looked as though the 29-year-old could join West Brom in January, yet the former Arsenal defender remains a Villan after the deal collapsed, with his future still hanging by a thread.
The out-of-favour trio, who made a combined nine appearances in the tournament for Villa, make room for the encouraging young talents of Rogers and Iroegbunam, with Gauci also in the mix to support Emi Martinez between the sticks.
The full squad selected and submitted to UEFA by Emery
Goalkeepers: Emiliano Martinez, Robin Olsen, Joe Gauci, Filip Marschall (B), James Wright (B)
Defenders: Pau Torres, Diego Carlos, Ezri Konsa, Lucas Digne, Matty Cash, Alex Moreno, Clement Lenglet, Ben Chrisene (B), Sil Swinkels (B), Jayden Barber (B), Josh Feeney (B), Aaron O’Reilly (B), Frankie Ealing (B), Finley Munroe (B)
Midfielders: Douglas Luiz, John McGinn, Youri Tielemans, Jacob Ramsey, Tim Iroegbunam, Boubacar Kamara, Edward Rowe (B), Taylor-Jay Hart (B), Ajani Burchall (B), Tommi O’Reilly (B), Travis Patterson (B), Kyrie Pierre (B), Kadan Young (B)
Forwards: Ollie Watkins, Moussa Diaby, Morgan Rogers, Jhon Duran, Nicolo Zaniolo, Leon Bailey
Unlike the structure of the other European tournaments, Villa will have to wait to find out their round of 16 opponent, as the eight play-off ties commence this month.
The second-place sides from the group stages of the Conference League take on the third-place clubs from the Europa League to decide which eight teams will join the group winners in the round of 16.
