NEW Aston Villa signing Taylor Harwood-Bellis has been left out of their Champions League squad – just days after joining from Southampton.
Harwood-Bellis joined in a £30million deal to replace Ezri Konsa who has joined Arsenal, but bizarrely he has been left out of their UCL squad by Unai Emery.
Harwood-Bellis signed for Villa only days ago Credit: Alamy
The Englishman spoke of his excitement at playing in the Champions League upon joining Credit: Shutterstock Editorial
To make matters worse, only two days ago the Englishman gave a club interview in which he highlighted how much he was relishing playing in the Champions League.
He said: “When I knew [about the move], the club in general is such a prestigious Premier League club and then you have the added bonus of the Champions League is something that doesn’t fill me with anything but excitement.
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“I can’t wait to get out there and show what I can on the biggest stage.
“We’ve seen the success the club’s had in Europe, winning the Europa League and going so far in the Champions League, giving PSG the hardest game they had that season, it was massive.”
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Emery has selected Pau Torres, Victor Lindelof and Tyrone Mings as his central defenders for the league stage of the competition.
Another new signing, Modou Keba Cisse, has also been left out, as well as striker Brian Madjo.
Villa’s other new arrivals – Zion Suzuki, Matteo Ruggeri, Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Leon Goretzka, Joao Gomes, Johan Manzambi, Nicolas Jackson, Alejandro Garnacho and Ibahim Mbaye – have all been included in the squad.
On his omissions, Emery said: “It is hard, the decision we took, and for the players. The experience we have here…
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“To decide, it is through the analysis of how we are expecting to be until January.
“We are going to play eight matches. (Modou Keba) Cisse is not in because he is injured. (Brian) Madjo is still injured for the next two weeks minimum.
“Taylor arrived as the last one, and we can get the balance with Lamare Bogarde, and we can even play Kamara.
“We tried to analyse it deeply. Taylor will be here for a long time, and hopefully, we will have the opportunity to play in Europe with us, in January maybe, and the next few years.”
Villa begin their UCL campaign against Club Brugge next week before facing Fenerbahce, Viking, Barcelona, Galatasaray, Paris Saint-Germain, Borussia Dortmund and Slavia Prague.
