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WARRIORS midfielder, Marvelous Nakamba, is set to miss Aston Villa’s high-profile showdown against Manchester United, in the English Premiership in January, because of 2021 AFCON commitments.
Nakamba is one of the two African players, at the Birmingham club, who are expected to return home, for the continental football showpiece, set for Cameroon, between January and February 2022.
The midfielder is a key member of the Warriors while his Villa teammate, Bertrand Traore, and his Burkina Faso side, will also be at the tournament.
The Birmingham Mail reported yesterday Villa will have one eye on January, knowing the Nations Cup starts in Cameroon, in early that month.
The 24-team tournament runs for four weeks, until February 6, with Nakamba and Traore set to feature for Zimbabwe and Burkina Faso.
Egyptian winger, Trezeguet, isn’t expected to play at the AFCON finals, due to the severity of his ACL injury, with the tournament possibly coming too soon, for him.
“He’s had a significant knee injury, which is normally nine months,” Villa manager Dean Smith, said.
“We never like to put a time frame on injuries but that’s the average time to come back.
“Some come back earlier, some come back later.”
Egypt have qualified, alongside Zimbabwe and Burkina Faso, with the draw for the AFCON finals, set to take place, in the coming weeks.
The 24 teams will be drawn into six groups of four.
With the tournament kicking off on January 6, it means Nakamba and Traore could miss as many as five fixtures, depending on their countries progress.
Villa travel to Brentford on January 1, just five days before AFCON finals, while the pair are definitely set to miss the FA Cup third round, a week later.
Then, they are also expected to miss matches against Manchester United (home) on January 15, Everton (away) on January 22 and, quite possibly, Leeds (home) on February 8.
Nakamba was in excellent form, at the back-end, of last season.
According to the Birmingham Mail, the Zimbabwean has been a specialist for Smith, in matches against the bigger teams, given his ball-winning attributes.
Traore is a maverick who supplied 14 goals (seven goals, seven assists) in his debut Premier League campaign for Villa.
Smith has added Emi Buendia into his ranks, which will compensate for the loss of Traore, in January.
But, over the coming weeks, Villa will bring in additions once more, with a midfielder, full-back and another winger/striker, on the club’s radar.
Nakamba did not play in the two league matches, against the Red Devils, last season, spending the 180 minutes on the bench.
He was an unused substitute, in Villa’s 1-2 defeat at Old Trafford, where goals from Anthony Martial and a Bruno Fernandes penalty, won the match for the Red Devils.
Traore scored for Villa in that match.
The Warriors midfielder was also an unused substitute in Villa’s 1-3 defeat by Manchester United at Villa Park, on May 9, this year.
Another Fernandes penalty, another goal from Greenwood and a goal from Edinson Cavani, powered the Red Devils to victory.
Once again, Traore was on target for his club.
Villa’s Premier League fixtures were released yesterday with Smith’s squad of players returning to pre-season training on July 5.
The Birmingham club will travel to Watford, on the opening day of the season, on Saturday, August 14.
They will then host Newcastle United and Brentford before the first international break.
Villa will manage their international stars over the summer with Jack Grealish, Tyrone Mings, John McGinn all in action at the 2021 Euros.
Goalkeeper Emi Martinez (Argentina) and Douglas Luiz (Brazil) are both competing in the Copa America, as well.
“The players will return on July 5,” Smith said. “Any players that have internationals will return a week later (July 11).
“And, then, any player in the Copa or the Euros will obviously be progression-dependent.
“Conor (Hourihane) will be on July 11 because he’s got international games but we’ve got games sorted already.
“Fred Guilbert will start back on July 5.” — Birmingham Mail/Sports Reporter.
Online Reporter