Who will miss out on Europa League?

LEICESTER City manager Brendan Rodgers has to decide who he leaves out of his Europa League squad by the end of today, writes Jordan Blackwell.

City have to cut three senior players from their line-up for their European campaign, which begins at home to Napoli on Thursday, September 16.

Clubs in the competition are allowed 25-man line-ups, as in the Premier League, but the rules are more strict, leaving Rodgers with problems to solve.

For example, City will only be able to name a maximum of 24 players in their Europa League squad, because to be allowed a full 25, four of the over-age players have to be clubtrained.

City only have three of those Harvey Barnes, Kiernan DewsburyHall and Hamza Choudhury, the latter still with the club after a potential loan move to Newcastle broke down for the second successive window.

Also, while he is considered an under-21 player in the Premier League, Wesley Fofana has to be registered in the Europa League as he did not undergo his football education with City.

That said, the French defender’s broken leg and ankle ligament damage make him a prime candidate to be omitted from the squad as he won’t be fit to play again until some point in 2022.

City have 29 players listed as firstteam squad members, but two of those – defenders Luke Thomas and Ben Nelson – can go on to List B for homegrown youngsters, for which there is no cap.

That leaves three senior players needing to be cut, with Fofana expected to be one and centre-half Filip Benkovic very likely to be another.

The Croatian defender is out of favour at City and was not included in the matchday squad at Norwich.

Papy Mendy is a possible candidate for exclusion, as Choudhury staying means City will have five central midfielders in their squad even if the Senegalese international is left out.

Another contender would be James Justin. While he is progressing well in his recovery from injury, he is not due to be in training until October time.

He will need a few weeks to get back up to speed, so he is therefore likely to be out of all of the first three group matches.

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