Manchester United and Manchester City are braced for an update as talks over a possible cancellation of the 2022 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) are held.
With the tournament currently scheduled to take place between January 9 and February 6, clubs across the Premier League — including United and City — were set to lose first-team players for a crucial period of the season.
However, reports from Get France Football have suggested that the Confederation of African Football (CAF) are undertaking discussions around possibly cancelling the tournament in Cameroon.
The European Club Association (ECA) have written to CAF informing them there is 'no intention' to release African players for the four-week period, while CAF have moved to quell reports — insisting that AFCON will happen.
The above is owing to rising Covid-19 cases and fears across the planet of the developing Omicron strain.
As it has across wider society, the devastating pandemic continues to take hold of elite sport across the globe and United saw their Premier League match with Brentford — initially scheduled for Tuesday night — postponed due to an outbreak in the squad which also forced them to shut down operations at Carrington for 24 hours.
If the competition goes ahead, United are likely to be without Eric Bailly and Amad for close to a month.
City are, meanwhile, awaiting an update on the AFCON development due to Algeria captain Riyad Mahrez.
Liverpool could be the biggest beneficiaries of a cancellation decision, with Jurgen Klopp's title challengers set to be without key players such as Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane and Naby Keita if the tournament does go ahead.
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