Manchester City's Yaya Toure and Crystal Palace midfielder Mile Jedinak will be heading off on international duty. AP / Press Association Images
AP / Press Association Images / Press Association Images
IT IS ONE of the busiest times of the year for Premier League clubs but this week many will be losing key players.
Held in Australia, the Asia Cup gets underway on 9 January while the 2015 African Cup of Nations kicks off in Equatorial Guinea eight days later on 17 January and runs until 8 February.
Out of the current top four, Southampton will be hit hardest as winger Sadio Mane (Senegal), forward Emmanuel Mayuka (Zambia) and defender Maya Yoshida (Japan) all depart on international duty.
With Didier Drogba retired and John Obi Mikel’s Nigeria not involved, neither leaders Chelsea nor third-placed Manchester United are affected.
However, Man City will have to deal without Yaya Toure, who is part of the much-fancied Ivory Coast squad alongside brother Kolo, Liverpool’s only representative at AFCON, Newcastle’s tough-tackling Cheick Tiote and in-form Swansea striker Wilfried Bony.
Senegal’s provisional 28-man panel, meanwhile, consists of five English-based players in Mane (Southampton), Diafra Sakho and Cheikhou Kouyate (both West Ham), Papiss Cisse (Newcastle) and Mame Biram Diouf (Stoke).
Newcastle
Mehdi Abeid (Algeria)
Papiss Cisse (Senegal)
Cheick Tiote (Ivory Coast)
Premier League clubs set to lose up to 30 players for African and Asian cups
IT IS ONE of the busiest times of the year for Premier League clubs but this week many will be losing key players.
Held in Australia, the Asia Cup gets underway on 9 January while the 2015 African Cup of Nations kicks off in Equatorial Guinea eight days later on 17 January and runs until 8 February.
Out of the current top four, Southampton will be hit hardest as winger Sadio Mane (Senegal), forward Emmanuel Mayuka (Zambia) and defender Maya Yoshida (Japan) all depart on international duty.
With Didier Drogba retired and John Obi Mikel’s Nigeria not involved, neither leaders Chelsea nor third-placed Manchester United are affected.
However, Man City will have to deal without Yaya Toure, who is part of the much-fancied Ivory Coast squad alongside brother Kolo, Liverpool’s only representative at AFCON, Newcastle’s tough-tackling Cheick Tiote and in-form Swansea striker Wilfried Bony.
Senegal’s provisional 28-man panel, meanwhile, consists of five English-based players in Mane (Southampton), Diafra Sakho and Cheikhou Kouyate (both West Ham), Papiss Cisse (Newcastle) and Mame Biram Diouf (Stoke).
Newcastle
Mehdi Abeid (Algeria)
Papiss Cisse (Senegal)
Cheick Tiote (Ivory Coast)
Crystal Palace
Yannick Bolasie (DR Congo)
Adlene Guedioura (Algeria)
Mile Jedinak (Australia)
Southampton
Sadio Mane (Senegal)
Emmanuel Mayuka (Zambia)
Maya Yoshida (Japan)
Swansea
Wilfried Bony (Ivory Coast)
Ki Sung-yueng (South Korea)
Tottenham
Nabil Bentaleb (Algeria)
Bongani Khumalo (South Africa)
West Ham
Cheikhou Kouyate (Senegal)
Diafra Sakho (Senegal)
West Brom
Jason Davidson (Australia)
Youssouff Mulumbu (DR Congo)
Leicester
Riyad Mahrez (Algeria)
Jeff Schlupp (Ivory Coast)
Liverpool
Brad Jones (Australia)
Kolo Toure (Ivory Coast)
Aston Villa
Chris Herd (Australia)
Everton
Christian Atsu (Ghana)
Hull
Mohamed Diame (Senegal)
Manchester City
Yaya Toure (Ivory Coast)
QPR
Yun Suk-young (South Korea)
Stoke
Mame Biram Diouf (Senegal)
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