Why Mainoo and Garnacho haven't been included in Manchester United 25-man Europa League squad

Manchester United have confirmed their 25-man squad for the forthcoming Europa League campaign.

Casemiro and Tyrell Malacia have both been named on the list for the European competition, but Alejandro Garnacho and Kobbie Mainoo have not been selected, for one simple reason.

Malacia did not make a single appearance last season after undergoing knee surgery and has not played a single minute since starting the 2-1 victory over Fulham in May 2023. He has since stepped up his rehabilitation progress and is in line to make his return before the end of the calendar year.

United had to submit their final list to Uefa on Wednesday evening and in doing so they had to comply with the various regulations that are placed upon the numbers that can be selected. Uefa rules state "as a minimum, eight of those 25 places are reserved exclusively for 'locally trained players' and no club may have more than four 'association-trained players' listed among those eight places." That rule is no issue to United who have a rich history of homegrown players in their first-team playing squad.

The competition rules also state club-trained players born after 1 January 2003 do not have to be counted as part of the main group, hence why Garnacho and Mainoo have both been named on the B-List. The B-List complies of Under-21 players who have spent two years at the club.

Fellow youngster Harry Amass has been named on the A-List rather than the B-List because he only joined the club in June 2023 and therefore does not qualify for the exemption.

Europa League squad: Bayindir, Heaton, Onana, Mee; Lindelöf, Mazraoui, De Ligt, Maguire, Martínez, Malacia, Yoro, Dalot, Shaw, Evans, Amass; Ugarte, Mount, Fernandes, Eriksen, Casemiro; Højlund, Rashford, Zirkzee, Amad, Antony.