Taylor Harwood-Bellis may be struggling to understand Aston Villa’s decision to leave him out of their Champions League squad following his deadline-day arrival.
That is according to former senior Villa scout Bryan King, who spoke exclusively to Football Insider about the situation.
The 24-year-old completed a £30million move from Southampton on transfer deadline day, putting pen to paper on a long-term contract with the Midlands club.
However, Harwood-Bellis and Brian Madjo were both omitted from Villa’s squad for the Champions League group-stage campaign.
Instead, Unai Emery selected Tyrone Mings, Victor Lindelof, Lamare Bogarde and Pau Torres, with the Villa manager admitting that finalising his squad was a difficult decision.
Harwood-Bellis previously made his Champions League debut for Manchester City in 2019, but he will now have to wait until at least February before potentially making his second appearance in the competition.
Taylor Harwood-Bellis ‘sold’ on Champions League football
Harwood-Bellis is unlikely to have needed much persuasion to make the move to Villa, particularly given Southampton’s current status in the Championship.
The opportunity to return to the Premier League while also competing in the Champions League would have been an attractive prospect for the defender.
However, his hopes of featuring in Europe this season could now disappear completely if Villa fail to progress beyond the group stage.
“The one that surprises me is the boy they took from Southampton, Harwood-Bellis. I can’t understand,” King told Football Insider.
“They brought him in, and with all the furore, and he’s saying, how wonderful, it’s great to move to a Premier League club like Aston Villa. I’m looking forward to playing in the Premier League.
“I’m looking forward to playing in the Champions League. It’s going to be a big challenge for me, and he’s not even in the Champions League squad.
“So, they’ve obviously sold the football club to him on the premise, you’re going to be signed in the Premier League, and you’ll certainly be involved with the Champions League. Now, the next time he’s going to be involved with the Champions League will be next year.”
King believes the decision could be particularly disappointing for Harwood-Bellis so soon after completing his move to Villa Park.
“I wouldn’t think that was a good boost for the kid after he’d signed,” he continued. “And now the kid’s going to be sitting thinking, ‘well, why haven’t I got a Champions League number?'”
What Unai Emery said about Harwood-Bellis decision
When asked about Harwood-Bellis’ omission from the Champions League squad, Emery explained that the decision was based largely on maintaining the right balance across his options.
“It’s hard for the decision we took and for the players too, but the experience we have here with some players before as well, two years ago, [Donyell] Malen and Andres [Garcia] were out,” he said last week.
“Of course, to decide it is through our analysis of how we expect to be until January in the Champions League. We are going to play eight matches.
“[Modou Keba] Cisse is not in because he is injured. Madjo is injured, hopefully not for so many weeks but still injured for the next two weeks minimum. And they are both out.
“Taylor arrived as the last one and we can get the balance with Lamare Bogarde in case we need a centre-back or we even can play [Boubacar] Kamara.
“We decided trying to analyse everything deeply. But of course, Taylor signed here for a long time. He stays here for a long time, and hopefully they will have again an opportunity to play in Europe with us. Hopefully after January, maybe, or the next years.”
Emery’s comments suggest that while Harwood-Bellis may have been left disappointed by the immediate decision, Villa see the defender as part of their long-term plans and believe he will have future opportunities to feature in European competition.