Nottingham Forest have left summer signings Omari Hutchinson and Oleksandr Zinchenko out of their squad for the Europa League league phase.
Teams are permitted to name up to 25 players in their ‘List A’ squads but Forest are automatically limited as they only have one ‘club-trained’ player (who was at the club for three or more years between the ages of 15 and 21) in Ryan Yates.
UEFA require four such players to be named in squads, or they will be limited by the club’s deficit — in Forest’s case, they are three short so they can only have a 22-man squad.
That means that £37.5million ($47.4m) attacking midfielder Hutchinson and deadline-day loan signing Zinchenko have been left out, alongside fellow summer arrivals Angus Gunn, Jair Cunha and Cuiabano. Jota Silva, who missed out on a deadline-day move to Sporting CP after paperwork was not submitted in time, has also been omitted, as has Taiwo Awoniyi.
Other new faces such as Dan Ndoye, Dilane Bakwa and Douglas Luiz have been included.
Teams are allowed to make up to three changes to their List A squad between the league phase and knockout rounds. They can name unlimited players to their List B, those who are under the age of 21 and have been at the club for two years or more, such as Zach Abbott.
Forest begin their Europa League campaign with a trip to Real Betis on September 24.
One normal day of Nottingham Forest. That’s all we ask. Will never happen.
Analysis by Nick Miller
The omission of the club’s record signing for the league phase of the Europa League campaign is pretty remarkable even by Forest’s standards.
Hutchinson arrived a couple of days before the start of the new season, and has made two appearances off the bench so far. But his chances of selection in the European squad are perhaps hampered by the fact that, with limited places to work with, there are at least two other players in all of the positions he can play in.
Bakwa, McAtee, Ndoye and Callum Hudson-Odoi can all play on the right wing, the latter two are ahead of him in the pecking order on the left, Kalimuendo can also operate out wide, while Morgan Gibbs-White is the first choice at No 10 and McAtee probably the first reserve there.
If leaving Hutchinson out is the headline, maybe even more remarkable from a football point of view is Zinchenko’s omission. One of head coach Nuno Espirito Santo’s key concerns in the closing weeks of the transfer window was that Forest didn’t have enough cover at full-back, so leaving out the Ukrainian is an incredibly big call. There are players who can fill in at full-back, such as Morato or Abbott, but the only specialists in the selection are Ola Aina, Neco Williams and Nicolo Savona. Zinchenko’s versatility, able to play in midfield too, in theory strengthened his case but Nuno, apparently, disagrees.
Zinchenko has Champions League experience with Arsenal and Manchester City (Eddie Keogh/Getty Images)
Nuno has included veteran centre-back Willy Boly, which is something of a surprise given his lack of playing time last season, but the two have a long-standing relationship having first worked together at Porto in 2016, and Wolves after that, before he signed for Forest in 2022.
Silva and Awoniyi may leave the club by the time of their first game so their omission is less of a shock. Other summer signings Cunha and Gunn are also out, bringing the total of new arrivals that won’t be involved to five.
Nottingham Forest’s Europa League league phase squad
Goalkeepers: Matz Sels, John Victor
Defenders: Neco Williams, Morato, Murillo, Willy Boly, Nikola Milenkovic, Ola Aina, Nicolo Savona
Midfielders: Ibrahm Sangare, Elliot Anderson, Morgan Gibbs-White, Douglas Luiz, Nicolas Dominguez, Ryan Yates, James McAtee
Forwards: Callum Hudson-Odoi, Chris Wood, Dan Ndoye, Arnaud Kalimuendo, Igor Jesus, Dilane Bakwa
Nottingham Forest’s Europa League fixtures
All times BST/GMT
September 24: Real Betis (A), 8pm
October 2: FC Midtjylland (H), 8pm
October 23: Porto (H), 8pm
November 6: Sturm Graz (A), 5.45pm
November 27: Malmo (H), 8pm
December 11: Utrecht (A), 5.45pm
January 22: Braga (A), 8pm
January 29: Ferencvarosi (H), 8pm
(Top photo of Omari Hutchinson: Alex Pantling/Getty Images)