Unai Emery argued with two Aston Villa stars over his Champions League selection (Image: Getty)
boss Unai Emery ‘argued’ with two of his January signings after being forced to exclude them from the club’s squad. Donyell Malen and Andres Garcia will not feature for the Villans in the knockout phase of the European competition.
UEFA’s rules permit a maximum of three changes to squads from the league phase of the tournament, from which Villa qualified automatically for the knockout phase. The Birmingham club will now play in the last-16.
Emery signed five new players during the January transfer window, with attacker Malen and right-back Garcia joined by loanees , Marco Asensio and Axel Disasi. Jhon Duran, Jaden Philogene and Diego Carlos all departed Villa Park, allowing for the maximum three changes to the Champions League squad to be made.
Malen and Garcia were the unlucky duo and will have to sit out of Villa’s matches in the competition. Emery has revealed that he ‘argued’ the club’s case to both players.
“The rules only can accept and register three changes,” the Spaniard said on Friday.
“We did more changes in the transfer window than we wanted. Even though we lost one player more because Jaden (Philogene) was a club-trained player and we lost the opportunity through him to have one more.
“We changed five players and can only register three. The decisions we had to take yesterday and are out are Andres Garcia and Donyell Malen. Of course, it’s not a good decision I had to take yesterday, but I spoke with Andres and Donyell to tell them the decision and I argued my decision with them.”
Donyell Malen will not play for Aston Villa in the Champions League (Image: Getty)
Malen was a £21million addition from Borussia Dortmund while Garcia joined in a £6m deal from Levante. Both players have since made their Premier League debuts.
Headlining Villa’s January business was the loan arrival of Rashford from . His new club are reportedly paying at least 75 per cent of his £315,000 weekly wage and will cover more based on performance-related clauses. Villa also have the option to complete a £40m permanent transfer for the 27-year-old in the summer.
According to , Rashford insisted on training while his new team-mates had two days off at the start of this week. The Man United outcast, who was criticised for his conduct by , is in line to make his Villa debut when they face in the FA Cup on Sunday.