BARCELONA
Alves, Adama, Aubameyang or Ferran... one will be omitted from the Europa League squad list
Barcelona can only register three new players for the Europa League. It looks like Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang will be the one who misses out.
Aside from the final decision regarding Dembélé, Xavi Hernández faces another conundrum - he must decide which of the four winter transfer signings to leave out of his squad list for the Europa League. UEFA state that a maximum of three new players can be registered for all European competitions in January, that means that Barcelona, who have recruited four players, will have to leave one out.
Barça's winter reinforcements began with Dani Alves, and followed with Ferran Torres. During the final days of the window, the club brought in Adama Traoré and Pierre Emerick Aubameyang. All four of them will not be eligible to play in Barça's European campaign.
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Crucial right-back slot
One of them is guaranteed to be registered in the list - Ferran Torres. The Spain international was the club's star signing of the winter window, costing 55 mililon euros from Manchester City. He will feature in the list which will be submitted to UEFA for the Europa League. It is also difficult to see Dani Alves being left out as he was brought back precisely to reinforce the right-back position - a weak area in which neither Sergiño Dest nor Óscar Mingueza have convinced Xavi.
The coach must choose between the last two players to arrive - Traoré and Aubameyang. Bearing in mind that young winger Ez Abde cannot play in Europe, and neither can Ferran Jutglà, as neither of them were included on the B list submitted to UEFA at the start of the season; that means that the team will be left short out on the right wing, which suggests that Xavi is likely to go with Adama rather than Aubameyang. Another factor is both players' contracts - Aubameyang's is for 18 months while Adama's is only until the end of June - as his spell at the club is only short-term, he will need more playing time to be able to show his potential.
As for strikers, Xavi has Memphis, Braithwaite, Ferran and Luuk de Jong, but out on the wing, if Dembélé doesn't play - either for being released or for being deliberately ostracised, Barça won't have a specialist winger for the Europa League. With that in mind, it looks most probable that Xavi will omit Aubameyang from the list.