Togolese football icon Emmanuel Adebayor has slammed European clubs over their reluctance to release African players for the 2021 African Cup of Nations (AFCON) tournament which starts in Cameroon on Sunday.
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Emmanuel Adebayor ripped into the European clubs in a recent chat with GHANAsoccernet as he said that no team should have the right to stop a player from representing his country. According to him, no coach in the world can prevent him from representing his country at the AFCON tournament. Emmanuel Adebayor went on to say that it’s disgusting that some persons are trying to prevent players from representing their nations at the AFCON tournament which will take place across five Cameroonian cities as from January 9 to February 6.
Former Togolese national team star Emmanuel Adebayor is a veteran of several AFCON tournaments.
There has been several situations of clubs not willing to release players for the AFCON tournament especially in the Premier League. Watford are in their first season in the Premier League after securing promotion from the English Championship last summer. The Hornets had separate rows with Nigeria and Senegal over two of their African stars. The two African stars are Ismaila Sarr and Emmanuel Dennis.
Watford and Senegal had a row over Sarr as the latter accused the Premier League outfit of their reluctance to release the attacker. In the end, the player was released to Senegal for assessment. Sarr has been out of action for several weeks due to the knee injury picked up during the Premier League clash at home to Manchester United in November.
Nigerian striker Dennis was named on the 28-man list for the AFCON tournament but he won’t be available after Watford failed to release him. According to the Hornets, they were not informed on time about his imminent participation at the tournament.