SCANDAL: Ghana fury as Leicester City plan to play 'injured' Schlupp next week after his exclusion from AFCON squad

The Ghana Football Association (GFA) will be furious to know that Leicester City are planning to use winger Jeff Schlupp next week after the English side claimed that the left-back will not be fit to play at the Africa Cup of Nations which resulted in the decision in the leave him out of the Black Stars squad for the tournament.

Yet Leicester City coach Nigel Pearson, who was reluctant to release the utility player to play for Ghana in the Equatorial Guinea tournament due to the mysterious knee injury, now says the player would be ready to play for the English side just when Africa's flagship tournament starts.

The revelation by Leicester City that Schlupp was the key reason why Ghana excluded the player from its final 23-man squad for the Africa Cup of Nations and now that he has not been named in the Black Stars squad, the English side are ready to play him in a dramatic turn of event which signifies a quicker-than-expected return from injury arousing suspicions.

Black Stars coach Avram Grant might be considering reporting the Foxes to FIFA for tricking them into believing that the flanker might not be fit for the tournament which kicks off on Saturday but with Ghana playing a few days later Schlupp might be fit to play for his country in their first match of the competition against Senegal on 19 January.

According to Leicester City Schlupp picked up a knee injury towards the end of the draw at Liverpool on New Year’s Day even though he was not substituted in the match which led to suspicions about the motives of the English side with many believing they were not keen on releasing their key player for Ghana.

According scans by Leicester City, the player's joint is inflamed and he has strained ligaments, meaning he was unable to fly to meet up with Ghana medical officials.

Pearson now says Schlupp may not be out of action for too long but said the decision was in the best interests of his welfare.

“From the outset of the injury we thought two weeks but I am not going to put a timescale on that,” Pearson, the coach of Leicester City said.

“He will not be available this week and maybe next week, but we will see.

“I suppose the reality of the situation is the potential difference in availability may not be too big anyway. The most important thing in anything like this is the wellbeing of the player.

“It is not the politics involved between whether there should be international tournaments during a season or any other issues really.

“My views are very clear. I am the manager of this club and I want the players to perform as best they can for us.

“I am always very supportive of players representing their country but my priority is always Leicester City first and foremost."

Leicester City claim they supplied the results of a scan and their own report, while Schlupp has also undergone an independent examination in London for the Ghana Federation even though the player did not turn up in the Black Stars camp in Spain to be examined by the Ghana doctors.

The Leicester City coach admits that the sudden turn of event will lead to suspicions from the Ghana team.

“To clarify, because there is always the danger when players are omitted from international squads there will be some cynicism flying around, Jeff was scanned the next day (after Liverpool)," said manager Nigel Pearson.

“The medical report and scans were made available to the Ghanaian federation. He has also been down to have an independent examination.

“That is not unusual because he is not able to fly because he has inflammation in the joint.

“International federations are well within their rights to either have player be present with their own medical team but Jeff was unable to fly to Spain where they have their training camp.

“They had an independent examination in London which came to the same conclusions as we made available. We try to do things the right way.

“Unfortunately for him and Ghana they have had to make a decision based on his availability at the moment.”

Schlupp was due to fly out to Spain to join up with the provisional Ghana squad before they cut it down to the final 23 for the tournament later this month.

Ghana federation might not take the report lightly and if they suspect any foul play they could prevent Schlupp from playing for the English side during the Africa Cup of Nations.

European clubs are reluctant on releasing their players to play in the Africa Cup of Nations with Senegal recently battling some English clubs over the release of some of their players.

Ghana were caught in a similar battle with Chelsea over Michael Essien who was excluded from Black Stars squad at the 2006 Africa Cup of Nations yet he played for the Blues just when the tournament started in Egypt.

Do you think Leicester City tricked Ghana into excluding Schlupp? Were the Ghana FA not smart enough? Do you think the player is involved in the conspiracy? Do you think his bench role for Ghana also contributed to this? Make your views known in the box below: