Aston Villa brutally leave new star out of Champions League squad days after signing him

Unai Emery has left new signing Taylor Harwood-Bellis out of Aston Villa's Champions League squad just days after signing him in a brutal move.

The summer transfer window was an extremely busy one for the Europa League winners, who saw Morgan Rogers, Ezri Konsa, Ollie Watkins, Emiliano Martinez, Lucas Digne and Youri Tielemans all leave in a mass exodus.

Villa brought in an entire new starting eleven of players, with Johan Manzambi, Nicolas Jackson, Zion Suzuki, Leon Goretzka, Alejandro Garnacho and Aaron Wan-Bissaka all notable additions for the West Midlands outfit.

Aston Villa new signing left out of Champions League squad after expressing excitement over playing in competition

The final signing for Villa came on transfer deadline when they snapped up defender Taylor Harwood-Bellis for an initial £25 million from Southampton.

But the centre-back, who scored on his England debut, is unable to play in the Champions League after being omitted from Villa's squad.

Modou Keba Cisse, another new signing, was also left out along with teenage talent Brian Madjo after he scored in the UEFA Super Cup against Paris Saint-Germain.

UEFA's website shows a list of 23 players selected, including nine new additions.

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Rules state that there must be a minimum of eight homegrown players, four of which must be club-trained.

Only two met the criteria for Villa in James Wright and Lamare Bogarde, meaning their List A number was reduced to 23.

Manchester City academy product Harwood-Bellis unfortunately missed out as a result, just days after telling the club's website he was "so excited" to play in the Champions League.

Harwood-Bellis 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.

“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.

“I know that the club relishes Europe as well and hopefully we can go a step further.”

Loophole could allow Aston Villa star to play in Champions League this season

As it stands, Harwood-Bellis will not be able to play in any of Villa's eight league phase games and can only feature in the knockouts if the club qualify and squad changes are made.

However, there is a loophole that could allow him to feature after all.

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Should an outfielder player named on List A be ruled out for 60 days or more through illness or injury, clubs can bring in a replacement on a temporary basis.

Back in the Champions League after winning the Europa League, Villa take on Club Brugge in their first game on Tuesday and the pick of their matches sees them take on Barcelona and reigning champions PSG.

Bellis made one Champions League appearance in the 2019/20 season when he turned out for City as a 17-year-old against Dinamo Zagreb.