Report: How Danjuma’s arrival will impact Spurs’ Champions League squad

Football.London have revealed that Tottenham Hotspur have one too many non-homegrown players for their Champions League squad after the arrival of Arnaut Danjuma.

Tottenham announced Danjuma as their first signing of the January window on Wednesday, with the 25-year-old joining on an initial loan deal, with an option to buy for £26.4m (Fabrizio Romano).

Arnaut Danjuma
(Photo by Silvestre Szpylma/Quality Sport Images/Getty Images)

However, this complicates Spurs’ Champions League numbers, with clubs permitted to have no more than 17 non-homegrown in their 25-man squad.

Unlike in the Premier League, Eric Dier and Matt Doherty are considered non-homegrown in UEFA competitions as they spent their formative years in Portugal and the Republic of Ireland respectively.

Football.London explain that while Bryan Gil and Pape Matar Sarr are young enough to be named on the B-list, they have not been at the club for long enough to make the cut, and would thus have to be named among the non-homegrown players.

That means that Tottenham were already at the limit of 17 homegrown players before Danjuma’s arrival and would thus have to offload one this window, failing which one of the non-homegrown players would have to be left out of the Champions League squad.

Here’s how Spurs’ Champions League squad looked ahead of the Dutchman’s arrival (via Football.London):

Champions League non-homegrown players: Hugo Lloris, Matt Doherty, Davinson Sanchez, Emerson Royal, Eric Dier, Cristian Romero, Clement Lenglet, Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, Son Heung-min, Ivan Perisic, Dejan Kulusevski, Pape Matar Sarr, Rodrigo Bentancur, Yves Bissouma, Richarlison, Bryan Gil, Lucas Moura (17).

Champions League homegrown players: Brandon Austin, Fraser Forster, Ryan Sessegnon, Djed Spence, Japhet Tanganga, Ben Davies, Oliver Skipp, Harry Kane (8).

Spurs Web Opinion

I think the idea all along would have been to offload one of Gil or Moura after signing an attacking player. So, Danjuma’s arrival should not be an issue.

However, I do wonder what Tottenham will do if Pedro Porro arrives through the door as he would also be non-homegrown. That will leave Spurs with 18 non-homegrown players even if Spence is loaned out as the 22-year-old is obviously homegrown.

So, it looks like Conte might have no choice but to leave one name out of the Champions League squad, and Moura looks likely to be the unlucky one to miss out.

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