In comparison to other leading Premier League clubs, Manchester United have been lucky not to lose any of their major players to mid-season international tournaments.
That will not be the case this year, however, with several first-team regulars likely to take part in the AFCON tournament taking place in January and February early next year.
Andre Onana recently made a controversial return to the Cameroon national team after a feud that culminated in him not being called up but that issue has been resolved and he’s now likely to play.
Additionally, Sofyan Amrabat is a leading figure in the Morocco side and is one of the first names on the teamsheet following his impressive World Cup campaign.
Hannibal Mejbri is growing into an ever-present figure in the Tunisia squad and he is likely to leave for the month-long tournament as well.
And to add to Ten Hag’s selection worries, he now risks losing Aaron Wan-Bissaka for a month in January after it was reported that Congo have made an approach for the right-back to represent them.
Wan-Bissaka was called up by Gareth Southgate in 2019 but has not made a senior appearance for England and is still eligible to represent Congo.
Wan-Bissaka seems to have convinced Ten Hag enough to become the first-choice right-back and keeping United’s injury worries in mind, losing him for a month would be a major setback.
Should the aforementioned players take part in the tournament, they are expected to return to United immediately after their respective nations’ campaign’s are over.
