For Donyell Malen, the adventure in England is starting with a first disappointment. His club Aston Villa has decided not to nominate the Dutchman for the Champions League. The same applies to Timo Werner.
“The rules only allow three changes,” Aston Villa coach Unai Emery had already described the dilemma of his club at a press conference on Friday afternoon, when he announced his club’s squad selection regarding the late nominations for the knockout phase of the Champions League.
After the Villans’ winter signings of Malen, Marco Asensio, Marcus Rashford, Andres Garcia and, at the latest, the deadline day transfer of Axel Disasi from Chelsea, there had been speculation in recent days as to whether the new signing from BVB might not be considered. After Emery explained the rules, it was clear that two players would miss out.
Missed chance to play against BVB
Meanwhile, Malen is certain: for him personally, the CL season is over. Alongside him, right-back Garcia has met the same fate. “Of course it’s not a good decision that I had to make yesterday,” Emery tried to explain, “but I spoke to Andres and Donyell to tell them the decision and I explained my decision to them.”
“We have made more changes in the transfer window than we actually wanted to,” Emery continued, after Jhon Duran (to Al-Nassr), Jaden Philogene (Ipswich Town) and central defender Diego Carlos (Fenerbahce) had to be replaced. What makes the disappointment for Malen even more difficult: if BVB wins against Sporting Lisbon in the play-offs, there could be a clash between his new and old employers in the round of 16.
Werner left out of the EL squad
Alongside Malen, Timo Werner is also out of the picture; the former international is not on the list of players that Tottenham Hotspur have nominated for the Europa League. Werner was thus dropped to make way for Mathys Tel, who Spurs loaned from Bayern Munich last Monday.
The 28-year-old joined Tottenham on loan from RB Leipzig in January 2024, but is having a difficult time there. The attacker is only a substitute in the Premier League. He has been out since the beginning of January with a thigh injury.
Unsurprisingly, however, Manchester City have added Frankfurt’s new signing Omar Marmoush to their squad for the Champions League and the upcoming duels against Real Madrid. In addition to the Egyptian, City also added new signings Abdukodir Khusanov and Nico – new signing number four, Vitor Reis, was left empty-handed in this case.
