Napoli announce Europa League squad list, including Nathaniel Chalobah

With the transfer window closed and the Europa League group stage starting soon, Napoli have formally registered their squad for UEFA competitions this season. The squad is light on surprises, but there are a couple of interesting notes to take from it.

Despite not having an immediately clear role in the side, new loan signing Nathaniel Chalobah has been registered to play for Napoli. Thinking on how he fits in the team, you actually get the sense that Chalobah was brought in mostly to play in the Europa League and Coppa Italia, in order to allow other players better chances to rest. Hopefully Chelsea are OK with him not playing much in the league, because for now at least, it doesn't look as though he'll be there much.

Not in the squad are Jonathan De Guzman and Camilo Zuniga, both involved in transfer deadline day drama. De Guzman refused a loan to an English club by going AWOL, leaving Napoli's training grounds to catch a flight to the U.K. and never showing up at the airport. Zuniga was supposed to be a Sampdoria player right now, but the deadline paperwork fiasco nixed the deal that would have seen him and Roberto Soriano swap shirts. That's not his fault, but he probably wasn't in Napoli's plans anyways.

Napoli's squad is also three men light from the 25 player maximum because of squad structure rules put in place by UEFA. Napoli are currently only able to register a single "club-trained" player -- a player who was owned by the club for at least three years between the ages of 15 and 21 -- in Lorenzo Insigne. Midfielder Jacopo Dezi missed that cutoff by just a few months, otherwise he would be eligible as well. As UEFA requires four roster spots be reserved for club-trained players, Napoli have to leave the other three empty.

The full 22-man squad that Napoli will have available for their group stage matches is listed below.

Goalkeepers: Pepe Reina, Rafael Cabral, Gabriel

Defenders: Raul Albiol, Vlad Chiriches, Faouzi Ghoulam, Elseid Hysaj, Kalidou Koulibaly, Christian Maggio, Ivan Strinic

Midfielders: Allan, Nathaniel Chalobah, Omar El Kaddouri, Marek Hamsik, Jorginho, David Lopez, Mirko Valdifiori

Forwards: Jose Callejon, Manolo Gabbiadini, Gonzalo Higuain, Lorenzo Insigne, Dries Mertens