Players leaving Premier League teams for AFCON
With the festive period in the Premier League now over, a number of Premier League clubs face a new challenge - losing players to the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON).
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The bi-annual competition is scheduled to run under a month, with matches from January 14 to February 5.
As of yesterday, coaches of the various national teams had submitted their list of players for the high profile competition and it is obvious some clubs will miss the services of some key players. The players can however rejoin their clubs as their national teams get eliminated, so some of the absences might be short. Here are the players that each Premier League club will have to do without during AFCON
AFCON will hit the Foxes pretty hard, as three players will leave the team for the competition. While Daniel Amartey has joined Ghana, Riyad Mahrez and Islam Slimani will both represent Algeria.
Liverpool will also be without the services of the dynamic Sadio Mané, who has headed to the Senegal national team camp.
Two players left West Ham United this winter. They are Black Stars hardworking midfielder Andre Ayew and his teammate Cheikhou Kouyaté who will feature for Senegal.
Sunderland also loses trio Lamine Kone (Cote d’lvoire), Wahbi Khazri (Tunisia) and Ibrahim Ndong (Gabon).
Stoke City, The Potters will also lose three players from three different countries during AFCON. They are Wilfried Bony for Cote d’lvoire, Egypt's Ramadan Sobhi and Senegal's Mame Biram Diouf.
Manchester United and Southampton will each have a player absent from Premier League action and they are Eric Bailly who will play for Cote d’lvoire and Sofiane Boufal who has been called by Morocco for the tournament.
Hull City will miss a pair of players during AFCON, Dieumerci Mbokani and Ahmed Elmohamady for The Democratic Republic of the Congo and Egypt respectively.
Arsenal’s 24-year-old Mohamed Elneny will be with Egypt, Ivorian Max Gradel (Bournemouth), Senegal’s Idrissa Gueye (Everton), with Crystal Palace duo Wilfried Zaha and Bakary Sako headed to Cote d’lvoire and Mali respectively.