James Trafford helps Man City but Pep Guardiola still has a Champions League problem

Manchester City are closer to meeting Premier League and UEFA requirements but still have decisions to make on their squad.

Manchester City are back in the Champions League - but not everyone in the squad can make it

Manchester City will hope that the arrival of James Trafford signals a new era between the posts. Ederson remains No.1 heading into his ninth season at the club but his contract expires next summer and the expectation is that Trafford will step up and replace him then if not before.

Bringing back a former academy player is also significant in the short-term because of the requirements for City to fill their Premier League and Champions League squads. Trafford's arrival, at the expense of German goalkeeper Stefan Ortega, brings the Blues closer to where they need to be.

The Premier League isn't really an issue. City, and all clubs, are only allowed a maximum of 17 players in their 25-man squad who do not class as homegrown - having been trained at English or Welsh clubs for three consecutive years before they turn 21.

City are not planning to include James McAtee, Jack Grealish or Kalvin Phillips in their squad for the season and have already said goodbye to Kyle Walker and Scott Carson but should still easily qualify. As well as Trafford, Marcus Bettinelli, Phil Foden, Nathan Ake, John Stones, and Oscar Bobb count as homegrown (as does Josh Wilson-Esbrand, who isn't really part of first team plans but was included in last season's list.)

Rico Lewis and Nico O'Reilly would count as homegrown too but still qualify as Under-21s so don't need to be included on the list. The same goes for Claudio Echeverri, Sverre Nypan, Savinho, Abdukodir Khusanov, and Vitor Reis.

Assuming Ortega is left off, that leaves City with 16 non-homegrown players in their squad. There wasn't an issue before Trafford joined but there is more breathing room should they want to sign another player who isn't homegrown now.

UEFA's rules are stricter. They still allow Under-21s (players born after January 1, 2004) to be exempt but require those players to have been available to play for City for two consecutive years. That would still include Lewis and O'Reilly but mean that Savinho, Echeverri, Nypan, Khusanov and Reis would have to be considered in List A.

Add those five to the 16 non-homegrown from the Premier League squad and 21 is four too many. If you were picking players to get rid of, Nypan, Reis and Echeverri seem the most likely for loans but after that it gets tricky.

If City were to bring in another non-homegrown player as well in their right-back search, that would mean two have to leave. But even if they don't, looking at the rest of the non-homegrown players there isn't an obvious candidate to leave out that wouldn't feel like a major snub.

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