Leicester City may not fill their 25-man Premier League squad and that would allow them to sign a free agent between now and January.
City’s deals on deadline day – including the signing of Odsonne Edouard and the loan exits of Tom Cannon, Ben Nelson, and Wanya Marcal – means Steve Cooper has a squad of 29 first-team players. However, five of those will not have to be registered in the main squad.
For this season, players born on January 1, 2003, or later can be placed on the under-21s list, which has no limit. City quintet Abdul Fatawu, Facundo Buonanotte, Bilal El Khannouss, Will Alves, and Michael Golding are all eligible for that list.
That leaves 24 senior players to be registered at City, and one spare spot. While the squad list has to be submitted by Friday, September 13, a free agent could be added any time between now and January, as long as they were out of contract before the transfer window ended.
When naming a 25-man squad, the main rule to be aware of revolves around homegrown players, those who spent at least three seasons representing an English or Welsh club before they turned 21. Clubs are allowed a maximum of 17 non-homegrown players in their 25-man squad, and that won’t be an issue for City, who only have 11 such players in their squad.
While they may have one free spot, there is a possibility that City will fill their 25-man Premier League squad. Two of the players in their development squad would need to be registered if they are to be called upon by Cooper to play in first-team matches. They are midfielder Arjan Raikhy, who made his debut under Enzo Maresca last season, and striker Nathan Opoku, who is currently recovering from a double leg fracture he suffered in April during his loan spell at OH Leuven.
But City will not face the difficult decisions they had the last time they named a Premier League squad. Back in January 2023, with 26 players needing to be registered, City chose to leave out James Justin, who was out injured with an Achilles injury. But the full-back returned to fitness before the end of the season, and Dean Smith rued that he couldn’t turn to the England international to help with the club’s fight against relegation.
City’s prospective 25-man squad list (24 players, * indicates homegrown): Mads Hermansen, Jakub Stolarczyk*, Danny Ward*, Daniel Iversen*, Ricardo Pereira, James Justin*, Wout Faes, Jannik Vestergaard, Conor Coady*, Caleb Okoli, Victor Kristiansen, Luke Thomas*, Harry Winks* Oliver Skipp*, Wilfred Ndidi, Boubakary Soumare, Hamza Choudhury*, Jordan Ayew, Kasey McAteer*, Stephy Mavididi*, Bobby De Cordova-Reid*, Jamie Vardy*, Patson Daka, Odsonne Edouard.
Selected under-21 players: Abdul Fatawu, Facundo Buonanotte, Bilal El Khannouss, Will Alves, Michael Golding.
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