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SIX GAMES MISSED: THE FULL LIST OF PREMIER LEAGUE PLAYERS HEADING TO AFCON 2025
Sunderland loses five players as AFCON 2025 begins. We detail every club's absentee list, including key stars like Salah, Mbeumo, and the Fulham trio.
The 2025 African Cup of Nations (AFCON) starts on December 21st, meaning several Premier League players will head off in winter to play for their countries.
The tournament goes from December 21st to January 18th, 2026. Depending on how far their country goes, players could miss up to six Premier League games.
FIFA said recently that clubs can keep players until December 15th before they have to leave for the tournament.
Several Premier League clubs will lose players to AFCON this winter. Here's a list of players going on international duty, according to Flashscore:
Arsenal - zero players
The Gunners don't have any African players in their first-team squad.
Aston Villa—one player
Winger Evann Guessand often plays for the Ivory Coast and is likely to join the current AFCON champions.
Bournemouth—one player
Amine Adli, who signed this summer, should be picked for Morocco, which is hosting the tournament. But Bournemouth will keep Antoine Semenyo because Ghana didn't make it to the event.
Brentford—two players
Dango Ouattara (Burkina Faso) and Frank Onyeka (Nigeria) might be called up by their countries. Onyeka is on the Super Eagles' preliminary list.
Brighton - one player
Carlos Baleba hasn't had a great season, but is still on Cameroon's squad for AFCON 2025/26. Yankuba Minteh will stay with Brighton since Gambia didn't qualify.
Burnley—three players
Lyle Foster is on South Africa's team, and Axel Tuanzebe was picked for DR Congo.
Hannibal Mejbri is also going to play for Tunisia.
Chelsea - zero players
Chelsea doesn't have any African players in their first-team squad.
Crystal Palace—one player
The Eagles have a few first-team players who could have gone to Morocco, but some were injured before the tournament.
Chadi Riad (Morocco) and Cheick Doucoure (Mali) haven't played for the club this season and will miss AFCON. Ismaila Sarr (Senegal) was injured in their December game against Manchester United, so it's unclear if he'll be ready.
Christantus Uche was on Nigeria's preliminary list but didn't make the final team.
Everton—two players
Iliman Ndiaye and Idrissa Gueye are regular players for Senegal and should join the team before the tournament.
Adam Aznou won't be playing for Morocco, the host country.
Fulham—three players
The Nigerian trio of Alex Iwobi, Calvin Bassey, and Samuel Chukwueze are all on Nigeria's team.
Leeds—zero players
Leeds doesn't have any African players in their first-team squad.
Liverpool—one player
As expected, Mohamed Salah will play for Egypt.
Manchester City—two players
Omar Marmoush will be joining Egypt as well.
Rayan Ait-Nouri hasn't played much recently, but should join Algeria.
Manchester United—three players
Three important players are going to AFCON: Amad Diallo (Ivory Coast), Bryan Mbeumo (Cameroon), and Noussair Mazraoui (Morocco).
Newcastle—zero players
Yoane Wissa would usually play for DR Congo, but he wasn't picked because he's currently injured.
Nottingham Forest—two players
Taiwo Awoniyi was on Nigeria's provisional list, as was Ola Aina. But the defender is expected to be out until January with a hamstring injury, and neither made the final team.
Ibrahim Sangare and Willy Boly will both play for the Ivory Coast.
Sunderland—five players
Sunderland will be the most affected club by AFCON, with five of their first-team players confirmed to leave.
Noah Sadiki and Arthur Masuaku are on DR Congo's team, while Chemsdine Talbi (Morocco), Reinildo Mandava (Mozambique), and Bertrand Traore (Burkina Faso) were also picked.
Simon Adingra (Ivory Coast) wasn't called up by his country.
Habib Diarra, the club's record signing, is also expected to join Senegal if he recovers from a groin injury that has kept him out since September.
Tottenham Hotspur—two players
Pape Matar Sarr will likely be picked by Senegal. It's not yet known if Yves Bissouma, who hasn't been playing much, will join Mali.
Mohammed Kudus, a winger, plays for Ghana, but they didn't qualify for the tournament.
West Ham—two players
The Hammers will miss defensive duo Aaron Wan-Bissaka and El Hadji Malick Diouf. Wan-Bissaka has been called up for DR Congo, and Diouf will probably play for Senegal.
Wolves—two players
Only two of a possible five players are set to leave for AFCON. The club is currently at the bottom of the Premier League.
Marshall Munetsi wasn't picked by Zimbabwe, but Tawanda Chirewa will join them. Emmanuel Agbadou was picked by the Ivory Coast.
Tolu Arokodare was on Nigeria's preliminary list but not the final one, and Jackson Tchatchoua wasn't picked by Cameroon.
CRISTIANO RONALDO PROTESTS AL-HILAL'S BENZEMA DEAL BY SKIPPING AL-NASSR LEAGUE MATCH
Cristiano Ronaldo is fuming. Discover why the Al-Nassr star skipped his last match and is now threatening to leave Saudi Arabia.
Cristiano Ronaldo has been the main attraction in the Saudi Pro League ever since he landed in the Middle East three years ago. Now, for the first time, it looks like he’s actually thinking about leaving. He’s frustrated. He feels the playing field isn’t level, and it’s starting to get to him.
Here’s the deal: Four clubs in the league—Al-Ittihad, Al-Nassr, Al-Hilal, and Al-Ahli—get their backing straight from the state. But Ronaldo sat out Al-Nassr’s match against Al-Riyadh on Monday night. Why? He was protesting. He found out Al-Hilal was about to sign Karim Benzema from Al-Ittihad, and that was the last straw. From Ronaldo’s perspective, Al-Hilal keeps getting more freedom to splash cash than everyone else. They’re the current champions, and Ronaldo still hasn’t managed to win his first Saudi title.
Saudi officials tried to calm him down. According to Diario AS, they reached out and argued that most of Al-Hilal’s extra spending comes from Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal, not the Public Investment Fund (PIF). Al-Hilal just brought in Kader Meite for €30 million, Saimon Bouabre for €23 million, and now Benzema. Al-Nassr, on the other hand, only managed two free transfers this winter. Sure, they spent a lot more in the summer, but that didn’t seem to matter to Ronaldo.
Reports from Portugal, cited by AS, say Ronaldo’s not ruling anything out—not even leaving Saudi Arabia this summer. That’s despite just signing an extension with Al-Nassr until 2027.
And honestly, he has a point. Since he arrived, Al-Hilal have spent €647 million, while Al-Nassr have shelled out €410 million and Al-Ittihad €365 million. These numbers probably don’t include salaries—and let’s face it, nobody’s making more than Ronaldo. He’s supposed to return on Friday when Al-Nassr face Al-Ittihad, but right now, no one really knows if he’ll play or if he’s planning his next move.
N’GOLO KANTE SKIPS TRAINING AS AL-ITTIHAD BLOCK HIS MOVE TO FENERBAHCE OFFICIALLY
N’Golo Kante has gone on strike at Al-Ittihad after a paperwork error blocked his move to Fenerbahce. Can he still sign by Friday?
N’Golo Kanté didn’t show up for Al-Ittihad training on Tuesday, and it’s not hard to see why. He was all set to head to Fenerbahçe, but the deal fell apart at the last minute—apparently because Al-Ittihad messed up some paperwork. Kante was supposed to fly to Istanbul and sign, but thanks to this administrative slip, he’s stuck in limbo. There’s still a shot at reviving the transfer sinceKanté Turkey’s transfer window stays open until Friday, February 6.
Kante was one of the first big European names to jump to the Saudi Pro League, joining Al-Ittihad in 2023 after seven years with Chelsea. He’s been a key player in Jeddah, helping Al-Ittihad win the 2024-25 league title and the King’s Cup.
Then, in the middle of the January window, word got out that Fenerbahce wanted him. The Turkish club were eager to add a World Cup winner to their squad. The plan was to swap Kante for Youssef En-Nesyri, who’d head to Saudi Arabia. Everything seemed set until deadline day, when news broke that an error by Al-Ittihad in the Transfer Matching System stopped the transfer cold.
Fenerbahce didn’t hold back. They blamed Al-Ittihad directly, saying they’d done everything right: agreements with the players, medicals, paperwork, all wrapped up on time. But Al-Ittihad entered something wrong in the system, and that was that. Fenerbahçe even asked for an extension and reached out to FIFA, but nothing moved. In the end, the deal died, and Fenerbahçe put out a statement saying they understood the frustration and would keep working to strengthen the squad.
Meanwhile, Kante’s making his feelings clear. According to Ben Jacobs, he skipped training on Tuesday, still hoping the move to Fenerbahce can happen. Santi Aouna says talks between the clubs aren’t dead yet. L’Equipe is reporting that Kanté doesn’t want to play for Al-Ittihad while he waits for FIFA’s decision. With the Turkish window open until Friday, there’s still a glimmer of hope for Kante, though En-Nesyri’s move is off the table for now.
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