English Premier League squad numbers

After a couple of seasons, one has to register up to 25 players with squad numbers. Players under the age of 21 do not need to be registered. However, on playing my first game of the season, those players under the age of 21 who I included in my team (not having been given squad numbers) were arbitrarily given squad numbers, for example Jonathan Franks was given 8. I do not want this to happen, I want to continue to be able to choose the numbers worn by my young players. But if I "register" my young players, will the game recognise that they're under-age, or will registering numbers for them use up spots in my 25?

(To muddy the waters even further, AI-controlled Arsenal seem to have young players that wear no numbers whatsoever on their shirts...!!)

This was registered as a bug i believe.

So what should I do? Issue numbers to my U21s or not issue numbers to them? It's bizarre there's still a bug in the game after three patches...

I suggest you don't issue them.

Don't issue them numbers as they'll take a space for the over-21 players.

Gah I'm such a stickler for realism it's going to be rubbish seeing John Guidetti being assigned #10 by the AI each match.

Hmmm. Oh well.

Any idea why SI didn't manage to fix this by patch #3?

It was only an issue from 10.3 onward, wasn't it? That's a genuine question btw.

Of course, you could give out "important" numbers to important players...

Ah, I wouldn't know - I only started playing the game after 10.3, you see.