Forgotten man Yosuke Ideguchi has been left out of Celtic ’s Champions League squad.
The Premiership champions kick-off Group F at home to Spanish champions Real Madrid on Tuesday night, hot on the heels of crushing Rangers in Saturday’s first Old Firm derby of the season at Parkhead. Now attention turns to Carlo Ancelotti and his stars as group stage football returns to the east end of Glasgow in Europe’s premier competition.
Ange Postecoglou has named his 25-man squad that will be tasked with reaching the knock-out rounds over the next three months. New boy Oliver Abildgaard is in, alongside fellow recent signing Sead Haksabanovic. But there’s no place for Ideguchi. UEFA rules dictate that eight spots in the squad must go to ‘locally trained players.’ Should clubs not have enough players to meet this quota, then the size of squad is reduced accordingly. These players fall into two categories; those who were on the clubs books for three years between the ages of 15 and 21, and those who were at club in the same association for the same period at the same ages.
Of those eight locally trained players, a maximum of four can be association trained players. Celtic fulfilled the quota with the inclusion of Scott Bain, Stephen Welsh, Greg Taylor, Anthony Ralston, Callum McGregor, James McCarthy, David Turnbull and James Forrest. Given the plethora of midfielders, including Aaron Mooy and Reo Hatate, then there was no space for Ideguchi.
Celtic Champions League squad in full
Joe Hart, Scott Bain, Benjamin Siegrist, Greg Taylor, Carl Starfelt, Moritz Jenz, Cameron Carter-Vickers, Alexandro Bernabei, Anthony Ralston, Stephen Welsh, Josip Juranovic, Reo Hatate, Callum McGregor, James McCarthy, Aaron Mooy, Matt O’Riley, Oliver Abildgaard, David Turnbull, Sead Haksabanovic, Liel Abada, James Forrest, Kyogo Furuhashi, Jota, Daizen Maeda, Giorgos Giakoumakis.
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