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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:

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Comments

This article has 19 comment(s) , give your comment

Readers Comment

  • Clive Jacobs 9 years ago

    Come on fellow Ghanains. Support our players. This is a nonsense report. Schlupp is injured because he wasn't in squad for his club on the weekend. PITO, you should be ashamed. Sorry to you Ben for this fool. The timing of AFCON should be in northern hemisphere summer like all other national cups. End of.

  • Ben 9 years ago

    You now call me a racist, which I am most certainly not. That ends this discussion.

  • sterlingz 9 years ago

    this guy is not even a regular for the stars..lets not make any issue out of it. posterity will judge him and his manager. WARNING !!! the person using my name to post information should desist from it..it is myopic and imbecility

  • Riz 9 years ago

    He doesn't even start for Ghana, most of the Ghana fans hate him. We (Leicester City) know what he is capable of and just how important of a player he is to us. I'm delighted he won't be bench warming in the AFCON and will be back playing for us soon!

  • Chris 9 years ago

    Ghana had their own medical team check him in London, their tests showed the same as Leicesters. What more do you need to know? It was Ghana's choice to NOT take him knowing he could be out for a few weeks and not Leicesters.

  • Ben 9 years ago

    Leicester didn't try to stop Riyad Mahrez going. He's gone. Schlupp didn't play against Villa through injury. He's injured but might be returning earlier than first thought. No conspiracy. As Nigel said the welfare of our player is more important. The tournament should NOT be in the middle of the season when for some times such as Leicester, it's a crucial time of the season.

  • PITO 9 years ago

    str_repeat('*',strlen('Fuck')) you Ben. You can't hide your allegiance. Country is above club! Stupid guy. The argument here is whether Leicester LIED in other to keep Schlupp, not whether the timing of AFCON is right for Leicester or not! As we speak now, the AFC Asian cup is ongoing! FIX your dirty face!

  • MICHAEL 9 years ago

    I hope he gets injured in his next game then that will justify his "injury". When this happens next time he will learn to be truthful.

  • John Payne 9 years ago

    You aren't a very nice person, Mr Pito. Nigel Pearson is an honest guy and would not stand in the way of Jeff Schlupp's international career. If he was not fit to fly against medical advice, why should you, you, ignoramus, be so cynical?

  • John Payne 9 years ago

    How nasty can you be???

  • Ben 9 years ago

    You don't seem a very nice person. 1) I don't hide my allegiance. It's very clear that I'm with Leicester City. Jeff has been with Leicester since he was 9. We made him what he is today. A little respect to the football club, please. You're lucky to have him at all. 2) Leicester did not lie about Schlupp. Riyad Mahrez has joined up with Algeria and we wish him well. 3) I don't have a dirty face. 4) The sooner the tournament changes its date, the better. Then situations like this will not occur.

  • Ben 9 years ago

    Ghana didn't want him at the World Cup. Why now? He's the same player. Very little respect given to Jeff from the national team.

  • whocares 9 years ago

    He was checked by the Ghana medical team they decided so who gives a str_repeat('*',strlen('fuck'))

  • emm 9 years ago

    I doubt Leicester tricked them. Especially with Pearson backing players for international football. Mahrez is a more quality and natural winger yet they let him go. What stopped him letting Schlupp go? On Saturday and last week both players didn't play

  • Neil 9 years ago

    What a shit article

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