Manchester City player Antoine Semenyo will not represent Ghana during this three-week international break after withdrawing from the squad for their Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers
Antoine Semenyo during a Manchester City training session at the City Football Academy
Antoine Semenyo will not be playing for Ghana during the international break(Image: Cody Froggatt/PA Wire)
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Antoine Semenyo has withdrawn from the Ghana squad for their Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualification matches against the Ivory Coast and The Gambia. The Manchester City player is said to need treatment for a swollen leg after acknowledging being 'battered and bruised' after their Premier League match against Sunderland.
Semenyo, 26, assisted City's second goal before scoring their third and fourth in the 5-3 win last weekend. That performance earned him the Premier League player of the match award.
However, that will now be Semenyo's last game for three weeks. His return for City could come against Liverpool at Anfield, should he recover in time.
Ghana Football Association president Kurt Okraku has said on Asempa FM: "Antoine [Semenyo] and the coach [Carlos Queiroz] spoke.
"He told the coach, 'If you need me, I will come down for the medical team to re-examine me, but the truth is that my leg is swollen, and we need to treat it.'
"As a leader, if you want to know your players, and in this particular case, we know the players and how honest they are when it comes to situations like this, you'd have to ask yourself whether you'd allow Antoine to continue with his recovery and be ready for Man City and for Ghana during the next window, or have Antoine fly down to Ghana to undergo an MRI and then ask him to go back because he can't play, his leg is swollen."
Antoine Semenyo of Ghana at the World Cup
Antoine Semenyo chose Ghana over England and played against the Three Lions at this summer's World Cup
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The former Bournemouth winger is one of just five City players to be on the pitch for every minute of their opening five Premier League matches. Erling Haaland, Gianluigi Donnarumma, Marc Guehi and Ruben Dias are the others.
As with those four, he was also rested for their Carabao Cup third round tie against Norwich City. Donnarumma, Guehi and Semenyo were all unused substitutes, while Dias and Haaland were left out of the squad entirely.
The Ghanaian was, however, substituted midway through the second half of their first Champions League group phase match. City led 1-0 away against Porto at the time before Haaland doubled their advantage with his second goal late on.
Semenyo played every minute for his country at this summer's World Cup, where they notably drew 0-0 with England. After reaching the last 32 as one of the best third-place teams, they lost 1-0 to Colombia.
The Black Stars, however, did not qualify for last year's AFCON. Ghana finished bottom of Group F, below Angola, Niger and Sudan without winning a game.
They are four-time AFCON winners, but the last of those successes came in 1982. That is one fewer than the number of times they have been runners-up, most recently in 2015, although they have not got out of their group in the last two editions they qualified for.
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