AFCON 2023: Mohamed Salah among major stars to miss Premier League action

As many as 46 players are expected to be unavailable at a crucial time where Premier League teams cannot afford to take a backstep.

Egypt‘s forward Mohamed Salah (L) fights for the ball with Guinea-Bissau’s midfielder Moreto Cassama during the Group D Africa Cup of Nations (CAN) 2021 football match between Guinea-Bissau and Egypt at Stade Roumde Adjia in Garoua on January 15, 2022. | Photo Credit: Daniel BELOUMOU OLOMO / AFP

The Premier league heads into January sans a major chunk of its African stars as AFCON 2023 kickstarts on January 14 in Ivory Coast.

As many as 46 players are expected to be unavailable at a crucial time where teams cannot afford to take a backstep.

While Liverpool winger Mohamed Salah will captain the Egypt side, and Brentord forward Yoane Wissa will lead the attack for Democratic Republic of Congo.

Senegal is the defending champion. | Photo Credit: AFP

Here are the other players who might be taking a mid-season break from EPL duties to represent their countries:

List of players expected to feature at AFCON 2023

Arsenal: Mohamed Elneny (Egypt)

Aston Villa: Bertrand Traore (Burkina Faso)

Bournemouth: Dango Ouattara (Burkina Faso), Antoine Semenyo (Ghana)

Brighton: Simon Adingra (Ivory Coast)

Brentford: Yoane Wissa (DR Congo), Frank Onyeka (Nigeria)

Burnley: None

Chelsea: Nicolas Jackson (Senegal)

Crystal Palace: Jordan Ayew (Ghana)

Everton: Idrissa Gueye (Senegal)

Fulham: Calvin Bassey (Nigeria), Alex Iwobi (Nigeria), Fode-Ballo Toure (Senegal)

Liverpool: Mohamed Salah (Egypt)

Luton Town: Issa Kabore (Burkina Faso)

Man City: None

Man United: Andre Onana (Cameroon), Sofyan Amrabat (Morocco)

Newcastle: None

Nottingham Forest: Serge Aurier (Ivory Coast), Willy Boly (Ivory Coast), Ibrahim Sangare (Ivory Coast), Cheikhou Kouyate (Senegal), Moussa Niakhate (Senegal), Ola Aina (Nigeria)

Sheffield United: Anis Ben Slimane (Tunisia), Yasser Larouci (Algeria)

Tottenham: Pape Matar Sarr (Senegal), Yves Bissouma (Mali)

West Ham: Mohamed Kudus (Ghana), Nayef Aguerd (Morocco)

Wolves: Rayan Ait-Nouri (Algeria), Boubacar Traore (Mali)

Tournament Dates

The 34th edition of the competition takes place between January 14 and February 11. 24 teams spilt into 6 groups will be taking part.

How many games will the players miss?

Every player involved in AFCON 2023 will be unavailable for the Premier League’s matchweek 21, which will be spread across two weekends. Those knocked out at the end of the group stage will likely only miss one Premier League game.

Mohamed Salah is without a doubt the biggest star who will be missing out. It will be interesting to see how Liverpool, which currently lead the table, fare without the Egyptian winger ,who leads the charts for both most assists and most goals this season. The Reds will have to endure four EPL matches without the 31-year-old if Egypt make it to the final.