Liverpool have named a much-changed travelling squad for their Champions League trip to Eindhoven to face PSV, but registration issues mean there's no place for Rio Ngumoha.
A number of senior stars have stayed home, allowing them to prepare for a busy few days of domestic competition. The Reds face Bournemouth in the Premier League on Saturday, followed by the second leg of their Carabao Cup semi-final against Tottenham.
With Arne Slot's team already guaranteed a top-two finish in the Champions League's new league phase, European football is deemed slightly less of a priority this week. Mohamed Salah, Virgil van Dijk and Trent Alexander-Arnold are among those to stay home, with a number of youngsters joining more senior figures including Andy Robertson and Darwin Nunez in the travelling group.
The likes of Trey Nyoni, Jayden Danns and Amara Nallo are all available in the Netherlands as Slot looks to preserve his team's unbeaten Champions League record. However, after not naming Ngumoha in the 'A' squad for the competition, the youngster misses out.
The Champions League 'A' squad is named at the start of the season, and includes the senior stars who a manager wants to be able to use in the competition. Players born after January 1, 2003 can be included in the 'B' squad, but only if they have been with their club for two or more years.
Teenagers Nallo and Nyoni were both included in the 'A' squad, having joined from West Ham and Leicester respectively in 2023. Ngumoha - who joined from Chelsea in 2024 - missed out and therefore isn't available for Wednesday's match.
The 16-year-old made his senior Liverpool debut in the FA Cup third round, becoming the club's youngest ever starter in the victory over Accrington Stanley. If he is to feature in Europe this season, though, he'll need to be added to the 'A' list for the knockout stages.
Speaking to reporters ahead of Wednesday's game, Slot dismissed suggestions those travelling to the Netherlands have a point to prove. "They don’t need to prove themselves, we know what the quality is for the players that are going to play tomorrow," he said on Tuesday.
"We are playing, like all the teams in Europe, many, many, many games and these players are ready. All the ones that are left behind could have played tomorrow but for the long term – so, it doesn’t tell you anything about the short term, doesn’t tell us anything about Saturday’s game – but for the long term, if you look back at our season, it has been almost every time after three or four or five weeks we gave them the break during the week when there was a League Cup or an FA Cup [game], if there was a moment for them to get some freshness back we have always done that."
Thanks to their top-two league phase finish, Liverpool will take on the winner of a play-off between teams ranked between 15th and 18th in the league phase. PSV themselves could end up in one such play-off, with Peter Bosz's side sat 19th ahead of the visit of the Premier League leaders.