Aston Villa's Premier League squad list highlights lack of depth as club name only 23 senior players

Sep 2 2010 by Mat Kendrick, Birmingham Mail

VILLA’S small squad size was highlighted when the club registered just 22 of the 25 permitted senior players with the Premier League yesterday.

Clubs are allowed to name up to 25 for top-flight duty under new rules following the closure of the transfer window on Tuesday evening.

But under the regulations Villa’s first-team party can be supplemented by a host of under-21 players, who do not have to be included in the main squad.

The ruling was brought in to prevent Premier League clubs having large numbers of unused players and some clubs, like Manchester City, have struggled to cut their squads down to 25.

Villa had no such problems and already subscribe to the homegrown player philosophy which the new directive is striving to encourage.

The senior 25-man squads must include eight ‘home-grown’ players, who do not have to be English, but must have been affiliated to the FA or Welsh FA for three seasons or 36 months before their 21st birthday.

Marc Albrighton, Nathan Delfouneso, Barry Bannan and Ciaran Clark, who have all played for the senior side this season, are in the additional list of youngsters, along with Fabian Delph.