Ruben Amorim has confirmed that the three Manchester United players competing at the African Cup of Nations will be given extra time off to prepare for the tournament.
The mood has lifted at Manchester United in the past two months. A big reason for that is that Ruben Amorim’s side are finally starting to show consistency on the pitch.
For instance, United are unbeaten in five matches, and Bryan Mbeumo was voted Premier League Player of the Month in October. These are all signs of improvement, which proved enough to ultimately diminish talk of Amorim getting sacked.
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Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s public backing of Amorim helped, too, no doubt.
The team will soon be hit with setbacks as three players will leave mid-season to compete in the Africa Cup of Nations, with Amorim having to maintain positive results without some key players.
Bryan Mbeumo playing against Tottenham
Photo by Catherine Ivill – AMA/Getty Images
Ruben Amorim reveals how Man Utd will deal with AFCON blow
Ruben Amorim has confirmed that United will lose their AFCON stars two weeks before the tournament begins on December 21.
The final takes place on January 18, but United fans will be keeping an eye on each of their players involved, perhaps hoping they return early to help Amorim’s side in the Premier League and FA Cup.
Mbeumo will represent Cameroon at the tournament, while Amad is set to feature for the Ivory Coast, and Noussair Mazraoui will be starring for Morocco.
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Amorim has warned that United will struggle without the trio, starting with the Wolves game in a few weeks.
The United head coach explained that there are rules around when players need to be released, such as releasing the players two weeks before the tournament.
“We have the rules about when to release the players,” Amorim told reporters.
“We’ll see, we’re doing our job to keep the players a little longer. But it’s not just in our hands, and we have to respect that, but we will try to do everything to protect the club, protect the players and the national team.
“I think it’s two weeks before the start, so we’ll try to arrange something with the federations, but we need to respect their rules in this case.”
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Amorim admitted this is far from ideal, but it is also an opportunity for fringe players to make a name for themselves.
“It is a concern but we already knew. There is an opportunity for other players. We have also the under-21s. We need to send a message in that time so we will see. But of course it is not ideal because they are so important in our team and we don’t have a long squad but again, our academy is for these moments and they will be ready.”
Man Utd players who won Africa Cup of Nations
While only Hannibal Mejbri won the AFCON during his time at United, another four former players won it before they joined or after they had left.
Eric Djemba-Djemba won it with Cameroon in 2002, while Manucho won it with Angola 10 years later.
The next AFCON was won by Nigeria, with Odion Ighalo part of the squad.
A year before joining United, in 2015, Eric Bailly won the AFCON with the Ivory Coast.