Andre Onana has been called up to Cameroon’s AFCON squad (Photo: Getty)
Manchester United star Andre Onana is reportedly trying to delay his call-up to the Cameroon national team for the African Cup of Nations.
On Thursday, Onana was named in Cameroon’s 27-man squad for the tournament which kicks-off on 13th January.
Should he and his country make it to the final on 11th February he could miss up to six games for United, including the FA Cup third-round tie at Wigan Athletic.
Pretty much every Premier League player taking part at AFCON, or even the Asian Cup, are leaving their clubs to link up with their countries after New Year’s Day.
Cameroon’s stars will meet up at a warm-up camp in Saudi Arabia, where they will play a friendly against Zambia on 9th January before jetting off to the Ivory Coast for their opening game against Guinea six days later.
However, ESPN report that Onana, whose participation at the tournament has always been in doubt, is attempting to skip the warm-up camp.
It is said that the goalkeeper wants to make himself available for the Wigan clash on 8th January and is in talks with his country’s FA over the matter.
Altay Bayindir is set to finally make his Man Utd debut in Onana’s absence (Photo: Getty)
Having had a very shaky start to his Red Devils career since his £47million move from Inter Milan last summer, Onana is keen to limit his time away from Old Trafford over fears he could lose his place in the team.
That seems unlikely to happen though, as the 27-year-old has played every single minute of United’s season, with Erik ten Hag not even letting No.2 keeper Altay Bayindir have a go in the Carabao Cup.
Onana had retired from international duty last year following a fall out with manager Rigobert Song at the Qatar World Cup but returned in September.
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Ten Hag previously said he was relaxed over the possibility of losing Onana to AFCON, saying: ‘When he goes there, we have a strong group of keepers with Bayindir and Tom Heaton so we are comfortable.
‘Of course, we hope Andre is available as much as possible, but if not we have two good keepers who can replace him.’
In related news, United starlet Hannibal Mejbri has surprisingly been omitted from Tunisia’s squad for the tournament.
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