Mathys Tel is the surprise omission from Tottenham’s Champions League squad.
Dejan Kulusevski, Radu Dragusin, Yves Bissouma, Kota Takai and James Maddison also miss out.
Squads were submitted to UEFA on Tuesday with Tel, a £30million summer signing from Bayern Munich after a loan spell last season, did not make the cut.
Thomas Frank knew there was a difficult decision to make after signing Xavi Simons and Randal Kolo Muani in the final days of the transfer window.
Both were named for the league phase of the competition which starts with a home tie against Villarreal on Tuesday week.
There were consequences however because Tottenham are three short of UEFA’s four-man quota for club-trained players, which effectively means they must submit a squad of 22 not 25.
Tottenham have excluded six players from their Champions League squad, including £30million signing Mathys Tel
Thomas Frank knew he had a decision to make following Spurs’ deadline day arrivals
Players such as Lucas Bergvall, Wilson Odobert and Takai, who all qualify for the Premier League as Under-21 players, do not meet the stringent UEFA criteria and so must be part of the senior squad. Frank has left out all his injured players.
Maddison will miss most of the season with a cruciate knee ligament injury and was a simple decision, but Kulusevski expects to be back in December and Dragusin could be back before the end of October.
They are sure to be disappointed even though it makes good sense if they are protected from the temptation to play in every game when they first return to fitness after long-term injuries.
There will be an opportunity to makes changes to the squad before the knock-out phases begins in February.
Bissouma has not been involved in a first team game under Frank, can leave for the right price and might yet move to Fenerbahce in Turkey, where the transfer window is open until Friday week.
Takai, a 20-year-old centre half signed from Kawasaki Frontale in the summer, will not be surprised. He has been injured and missed some of pre-season.
It will be a blow for Tel, however, who appears set to be the big loser in the deadline day swoop for Kolo Muani.
They both like to occupy the same positions, playing off the left or through the middle, where competition is fierce.
