Manchester United are preparing to hold talks with several countries to keep top players like Brian Mbeumo for as long as possible before leaving AFCON
Manchester United are hoping to delay the departure of Brian Mbeumo, Amad and Nouseir Mazraoui, who will ultimately head to the Africa Cup of Nations.
Mbeumo represents Cameroon, while Amad and Mazraoui represent Ivory Coast and Morocco respectively. The position of major tournaments on the global calendar means that Premier League teams are unable to compete midway through the season.
Current regulations state that United must release the trio two weeks before their first match. As it stands, that will be during and around their trip to Wolves, who play at Molineux on December 8th.
Cameroon and Morocco will play their opening match on the same day, December 24th. Morocco, led by Mazraoui, will host the tournament and will play their opening game against Comoros on December 21st. The final will be held on January 18th.
Manager Ruben Amorim has confirmed that United are in talks with the players’ national federations in a bid to delay their departures.
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“There are rules about when players have to be released, but we are trying to keep players a little longer. It’s not just about us. We’ll see. We’ll try to arrange something with the federation,” he said at Friday’s pre-match press conference.
December is always a busy time for the Premier League and if any of their players play deep into the tournament they could end up missing eight Premier League games, including fixtures against Aston Villa and Newcastle, as well as the FA Cup third round tie.
United have historically been successful when it comes to player departures. They managed to protect goalkeeper Andre Onana until the day before Cameroon’s first match in the tournament two years ago. That meant the former number one ultimately missed only the FA Cup draw at Newport.
Amorim is enjoying the best period of his time in Manchester, and Mbeumo, signed in the summer from Brentford, has been one of the best players this term. Amad is also a regular and the head coach will be loath to lose them. Mazraoui is extremely versatile across the defensive line.
United’s ideal scenario would be to keep their star player at least until the end of the game against Bournemouth on December 15th.
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