Arsenal might have a few players unavailable next January, with at least four players set to represent their nations at the African Cup of Nations.
Arsenal Coach, Mikel Arteta: Photo Credit: Gallo Images
The Gunners will lose captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Thomas Partey, Nicolas Pepe and Mohamed Elneny next season.
Read Also: Arsenal New Signing Thomas Partey Hints At EPL Debut
The 2022 AFCON tournament is set to begin in mid-January and end in February. Arsenal’s squad will be stripped of four key squad members, except they withdraw from the competition.
If Ivory Coast secures three points from their last two qualifying games, they will seal their spot at the tournament, meaning Pepe will also be headed to Cameroon.
It isn’t currently known how many games they will miss but could be absent for five or six matches.
Aubameyang (Gabon), Elneny (Egypt) and Partey (Ghana) are already qualified.
Arsenal reached the Europa League quarter-finals despite suffering a 1-0 loss to Olympiakos in the second leg on Thursday
Youssef El-Arabi’s deflected second-half strike earned Olympiakos another victory at the Emirates but Arsenal advanced 3-2 on aggregate, avenging their exit to the Greeks on away goals last season.
Meanwhile Anaedoonline.ng reported that Aliko Dangote has been out of the spotlight when it comes to Arsenal Football Club in the past year. That is not entirely unexpected, given the coronavirus pandemic that has swept the globe.
However, according to reports talks over a potential takeover at Arsenal could start up in the not too distant future.
Dangote, who is the richest man in Africa, has made no secret in the past of his desire to buy out Stan Kroenke at Arsenal and become the owner at the Emirates Stadium.
In June 2015, Dangote admitted he was interested in buying Lady Nina Bracewell-Smith’s 15.9% stake in 2011, which were eventually purchased by Stan Kroenke.
In September 2016, he stated that a takeover would be a question of timing rather than money.
In August 2017, he mentioned the conclusion of the oil refinery as the key time, saying: “I don’t want to go after Arsenal until I deliver the refinery. Once I deliver, I will go after Arsenal.”
He reiterated that in January 2020.
“It is a team that yes I would like to buy someday, but what I keep saying is we have $20billion worth of projects and that’s what I really want to concentrate on. I’m trying to finish building the company and then after we finish, maybe some time in 2021 we can.
Post Disclaimer
The opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by the author and forum participants on this website do not necessarily reflect the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints of Anaedo Online or official policies of the Anaedo Online.