CLUBS in the English Premier League, as well as Scottish Premiership champions Rangers, are plotting to hold their players back from reporting early for the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations.
According to a report in Scottish outlet Daily Record, Rangers have started negotiating with the Nigeria Football Federation over the delay in the release of their Super Eagles players for the tournament.
The 2021 AFCON is scheduled for Cameroon from 9 January to 6 February 2022 after it was postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.Clubs are obliged by FIFA to release their players for the tournament from 27 December but Rangers are banking on a cordial relationship with Nigeria to keep Joe Aribo, Leon Balogun and possibly Calvin Bassey for a few more days.
Rangers are away to their fierce rivals and fellow titles contenders Celtic on 2 January, just one week before AFCON kicks off, and the club want their Super Eagles trio involved in the Glasgow derby before jetting off to Africa.
The Daily Record claims that Rangers are confident that they will be successful in their negotiations with the NFF, banking on their good relationship with the body and Super Eagles head coach Gernot Rohr.
The Scottish newspaper says Rangers manager Steven Gerrard and the club’s sporting director Ross Wilson have an ‘excellent working relationship with Rohr and the Nigerians’.
There are also reports in England that Premier League clubs are keen to keep their players beyond 27 December, especially for the busy Christmas and New Year fixture schedule.
For instance, Liverpool will have to do without Egypt’s Mohamed Salah and Senegal’s Sadio Mane for several weeks, while Watford will have to let go of Nigeria’s William Troost-Ekong and probably Emmanuel Dennis as well as Senegal’s Ismaila Sarr.
Chelsea will lose their first-choice goalkeeper Edouard Mendy, while Leicester City will release Nigeria’s Kelechi Iheanacho and Wilfred Ndidi.
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