'The one that surprises me...' - Aston Villa expert baffled after 24-year-old is axed
Taylor Harwood-Bellis must be left baffled after Aston Villa left him out of their Champions League squad.
That is the opinion of former senior Villa scout, Bryan King, speaking exclusively to Football Insider.
The 24-year-old was signed on transfer deadline day, arriving in a £30million deal from Southampton and signing a long-term contract.
Yet Harwood-Bellis, along with Brian Madjo, has been left out of squad for Villa's Champions League group stage games.
Tyrone Mings, Victor Lindelof, Lamare Bogarde and Pau Torres have been included, with Unai Emery describing the decision as a hard one.
Harwood-Bellis did make his Champions League debut with Manchester City in 2019, but will have to wait until at least February to make his second appearance.
Taylor Harwood-Bellis 'sold' on Champions League football
Harwood-Bellis will have needed little convincing to join Villa, considering Southampton's place in the Championship.
The 24-year-old would have seen the Premier League and the chance to play in the Champions League, and jumped at it.
However, he may have lost his chance to play in Europe altogether this season, if Villa are knocked out in 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."
"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
Quizzed on the exclusion of Harwood-Bellis, Emery explained that the decision was made on squad balance.
"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."