Weiss going out on loan again

[alera]

Balotelli, believe it or not, still classes as an under 21 player for the coming season! He's not 21 until the 12th August and the rules state:-


An Under 21 player is defined as one who is under the age of 21 on 1st January in the year in which the season commences

So, as Balotelli was under 21 on 1st January 2011 he doesn't have to be registered.

Well that means currently unless the likes of SWP, Nedum etc are retained we will only have a pro over 21 squad of 17 players !

Cant see anyway back at all for :

Wayne Bridge
Emmanuel Adebayor
Craig Bellamy
Roque Santa Cruz
Nedum Onuoha

They are not even training with the first team squad and have played no part of preseason training.

Assume Carlos Tevez, Shaun Wright-Phillips are retained or replaced and a further backup keeper is signed. Still only 20 over 21 players in the squad. When you cut out the players mancini doesnt want our squad is actually quite small.

 

[Mr Ed (The Stables)]

Must admit I am quite surprised considering how thin our first team pro squad is in terms of numbers when all the players we want out leave

Goalkeepers :

Joe Hart
Stuart Taylor
David Gonzalez (On loan)
Gunnar Nielsen (Not allocated squad number ?)


Defenders :

Aleksandar Kolarov
Gael Clichy
Vincent Kompany
Joleon Lescott
Kolo Toure
Pablo Zabaleta
Micah Richards
Greg Cunningham (Under 21)
Dedryck Boyata (Under 21)
Stefan Savic (Under 21)


Midfielders :

Gareth Barry
Adam Johnson
Nigel de Jong
James Milner
David Silva
Yaya Toure
Abdul Razak (Under 21)
Abdisalam Ibrahim (Under 21) - Now gone on Loan



Forwards :

Kun Aguero
Mario Balotelli
Edin Dzeko
Alex Tchuimeni-Nimely (under 21)
John Guidetti (under 21)


On the Bubble :

Vladimir Weiss (Loan ? Burnley, Bolton, Somewhere in spain ?)
Shaun Wright-Phillips (Sell ? Bolton, Wigan, Villa ???)


Moving on :

Wayne Bridge (Free ? Villa, Newcastle, Liverpool ?)
Carlos Tevez (Inter or Real ?)
Emmanuel Adebayor (Real ?)
Craig Bellamy (Free ? Stoke, Everton etc)
Roque Santa Cruz (Free ? Blackburn ?)
Michael Johnson (Loan - Leicester)
Nedum Onuoha (£6 Million ? Stoke, Everton, Sunderland, Blackburn, Bolton ?)


If the expected players leave I make that only 18 players out of a permitted 25 over 21 ?

Assuming we sign an experienced keeper for cover (Thomas Sørensen from Stoke ?) and a creative midfield player (Nasri ?) we would still only have a 20 man over 21 pro squad, stupidly small for a club playing in the champions league and competing for 3 domestic cups !

I thought that would mean SWP and Weiss would be retained. But the noises comming out of the players and Mancini that doesnt seem to be the case. Quite possibly more than 2 more signings still to come ? Or just a fair few kids in the first team squad ?

Even if we retain or replace Tevez, kept Nedum and sign 2 more players we would still only have a 22 man over 21 squad - 3 short.

I cant see any of the other players being retained Mancini either doesnt rate or simply doesnt like them.

Balotelli, believe it or not, still classes as an under 21 player for the coming season! He's not 21 until the 12th August and the rules state:-


An Under 21 player is defined as one who is under the age of 21 on 1st January in the year in which the season commences

So, as Balotelli was under 21 on 1st January 2011 he doesn't have to be registered.

I'm not sure about that Under 21 rule with regards to European rules. I'm sure I read something that Rammyblues posted regarding Balotelli (and Savic) that they have to be with a club two years before they are classed as Under 21. I think he's Under 21 re premier League rules though.

 

[lancs blue]

Correct Mr Ed - Balo and Savic will need to be in the 25-man "A" list for the Champs League squad and will be counted as non-home grown but neither need to be named in the Prem squad.