When Ange Postecoglou must name Tottenham Europa League squad and the players who could miss out
Ange Postecoglou's Tottenham squad is now set for the second half of the campaign. It was a busy end to the January transfer window for the club as they completed a double signing in the final two days of the winter market.
Sunday morning saw Kevin Danso join on loan from French club Lens, with the move set to become permanent in the summer due to a purchase obligation in the agreement between both clubs. Tottenham then confirmed the loan signing of Mathys Tel from Bayern Munich just after Monday evening's 11pm deadline.
The Lilywhites do have the option to make the attacker's move permanent in the summer for £45.7million, with a six-year contract already agreed for the 19-year-old. The two signings add to the earlier arrival of Antonin Kinsky, who joined on a permanent basis from Slavia Prague at the beginning of January.
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Following the closure of the January transfer market, Postecoglou and Spurs will very soon have to submit their 25-man playing squads in both the Premier League and Europa League for the remainder of the season. In terms of the Europa League, the 59-year-old will have to make a decision over his playing squad for the knockout phase by 11pm on Wednesday evening.
Clubs are allowed to make alterations to their playing squad for the next phase of the competition but they can only make a maximum of three changes. Tottenham could only name a squad of 23 players rather than 25 back in September as they only have two of the required four club-trained players.
Djed Spence and Sergio Reguilon were the unlucky two to miss out as a result, with the omission of Spence something that has proved to be a major talking point in recent months due to the injuries at full-back and also his rather impressive performances in the Premier League and domestic cup competitions. The exciting full-back has made a really good case to be included in the Europa League squad for the second half of the campaign but Postecoglou also has Kinsky, Danso and Tel to consider now.
Article 32:01 of the UEFA Europa League regulations for the 2024/25 campaign states: "After the completion of the league phase and before the start of the knockout phase, a club may register a maximum of three new eligible players for the remaining matches in the current competition. Such registrations must be completed by February 6, 2025 (24:00 CET - 11pm Wednesday evening in the UK) at the latest."
As only three changes can be made to Tottenham's current European squad, one of the aforementioned quartet will join Reguilon in watching on from the sidelines in Europe over the next couple of months. Even though Kinsky, Danso and Tel have played in Europe this term for Slavia Prague, Lens and Bayern Munich respectively, the trio can feature for Tottenham from the round of 16 onwards.
Article 32:03 stipulates: "Any or all of the players from the above quota may have been fielded for another club in the qualifying phase, play-offs or league phase of the UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League or UEFA Conference League."
With four players in the mix for three places as Reguilon is unlikely to be under consideration for the knockout phase, Postecoglou and Spurs will have to decide which players in the squad at present miss out in the process.
Radu Dragusin's season-ending injury will almost certainly see the Romanian drop out, thus allowing Danso to come in and add to the defenders currently in the squad. Postecoglou will have to make a call on the possible inclusion of Kinsky as the Spurs boss already has sufficient goalkeeping options to select from.
Guglielmo Vicario is due to return soon and could take his place in goal for the round of 16 at the beginning of March, with Brandon Austin able to cover the Italian after picking up some vital first-team experience in the Premier League and Europa League in January. Tottenham also have Fraser Forster and Alfie Whiteman in the squad, with the former potentially at risk as an association-trained player as the latter will be required as a club-trained player.
Forster dropping out would allow Spence to be named in the squad in the process. Finally, it could possibly be between Timo Werner or Wilson Odobert to lose out on a squad place in order to accommodate Tel.
Odobert has missed a large chunk of the season through injury but is expected to return very soon, with Werner also due to make his comeback after last featuring in the FA Cup third round clash at Tamworth. As the Frenchman signed a long-term Tottenham contract in the summer and his fellow attacker is only on loan until the end of the campaign, the experienced German could possibly find himself in danger of being cut.
All will become clear in the coming days once Postecoglou has decided on his squad and the club have submitted it to UEFA.
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Want breaking and top Tottenham stories sent straight to you? Join our Spurs WhatsApp community by clicking this link. If you're curious you can check out our privacy policy here.