When the African Cup of Nations and the Asian Cup kick off in a few weeks, Leicester City will be the most affected of all the promotion contenders.
City winger Abdul Fatawu was included in Ghana’s preliminary squad for the Afcon this week and is one of five players Enzo Maresca will lose for up to six games from mid-January. That’s more players than Ipswich, Leeds and Southampton combined.
Fatawu has made it into Chris Hughton’s 55-man preparation squad and will be a strong contender for a place in the final 23-man squad, which must be named by 3 January. Fatawu was part of the Black Stars squad at last year’s World Cup but did not earn a call-up for most of this calendar year, but he was back in the ascendancy during the recent international break last month and his improved form means he has a good chance of representing his country in Ivory Coast.
He is the only City player who will be taking part in tournaments next month, as all the others are well established in their teams. Only injuries are likely to prevent Wilfred Ndidi and Kelechi Iheanacho from representing Nigeria, as well as Patson Daka and Zambia. Harry Souttar is also likely to be called up to the Australian team for the Asian Cup in Qatar, which is taking place at the same time.
This means City lose three of their top six scorers for a month, with Ndidi (seven), Fatawu (seven) and Iheanacho (six) all contributing during this period. Nineteen of City’s 44 goals in the Championship this season have been scored or assisted by at least one of the African international’s.
The Afcon kicks off on 13 January, meaning the African quartet’s last game in the Championship will be the New Year’s Day clash with Huddersfield. They may still be available for the FA Cup game at Millwall, but they will be gone when City take on Coventry in the M69 derby.
If their nations qualify for the final, they are likely to miss the six Championship games. After Coventry, City will take on promotion rivals Ipswich, then Swansea, Stoke and Watford in the four weeks of the tournament, with the home game against Sheffield Wednesday too soon for all the players to qualify for the final, as it will be just two days after the spectacle.
City rivals are not so badly affected. Ipswich will lose defender Cameron Burgess, who is Souttar’s partner in the Australian national team, and captain Sam Morsy may also leave to link up with Egypt, although that is not yet certain. The Tractor Boys received a boost this week as centre-forward Massimo Luongo retired last month despite being called up to Australia, thus ruling them out of the Asian Cup.
Leeds will have no players in either tournament, while Southampton are likely to lose two at the Afcon. Winger Kamaldeen Sulemana is expected to travel with Ghana, while centre-forward Joe Aribo will represent Nigeria.