When Aston Villa sold Jacob Ramsey to Newcastle at the start of the Premier League season, Claret Villains wrote about how that move could have unintended negative consequences. Largely, Ramsey is a player who spent his entire life (minus a short loan spell) developing within Bodymoor, from the Aston Villa academy up to his time with the senior team.
Given Ramsey’s long history with Villa, the English midfielder is clearly ranked as a homegrown player by UEFA standards. This season, Villa will need to register eight homegrown players in order to meet the Europa League quota, so losing Ramsey was a big blow to Villa’s squad makeup going forward.
How will Aston Villa address its Europa League registration dilemma?
However, Aston Villa secured the loans of Harvey Elliott (with an obligation to buy) and Jadon Sancho on the final day of the transfer window, and both of those players are England internationals who have an extensive training history within the English football system. So, Villa should experience a bit of increased squad flexibility as it stakes its claim at the Europa League title, which is a favored competition of manager Unai Emery.
As it stands, the current Aston Villa players who meet the UEFA homegrown player distinction include: Ross Barkley, Ezri Konsa, Matty Cash, Ian Maatsen, Tyrone Mings, Emi Martinez, Morgan Rogers, and Ollie Watkins. Adding Sancho and Elliott to that list would give Villa 10 players who could qualify as homegrown, whereas the club needs to register a minimum of eight ahead of the Europa League. Depending on how the season shakes out in terms of injuries, the loans of Sancho and Elliott could prove to be quite pivotal for the claret and blue.
Now, it is unclear which players the club will actually register as homegrown, but that will be announced soon as the Europa League is slated to kick off with matchday one on September 24 and 25.