Olympique de Marseille could lose up to 8 players in the final phase of the African Cup of Nations, which will take place in Côte d’Ivoire in January 2024. Pablo Longoria returned to this dilemma.
This year again, the African Cup of Nations will take place in the middle of the season. What slow down some clubs who are reluctant to invest in African players, for fear of missing a month of competition. On the side of Marseille, this continental tournament does not scare. And as proof, the Marseille club has just registered the arrival of four African recruits, plus the four already present in the ranks of Marseille.
Among them are Sarr, Ndiaye, Gueye (Senegal), Ounahi, Harit (Morocco), Aubameyang (Gabon), Kondogbia (Central African Republic) and Mbemba (DR Congo). These players should all play, with their respective selections, the African Cup of Nations which will take place from January 13 to February 11, 2024. OM could therefore face challenges due to their possible absence.
Longoria wants a solution
Pablo Longoria, the president of the Marseille club, responded to journalists on this subject, during his press conference on Thursday aimed at presenting Aubameyang and Kondogbia. ” We have to deal with it. It is something that we take into consideration when we do the recruitment, but we cannot make the team according to the CAN. It wouldn’t be respectful. We don’t make a team for 6 months but for the future. Basing an entire strategy on a month-long competition is risky. It’s true that we have to adapt and take it into consideration,” he declares.
The 37-year-old Spanish leader concluded his speech with an unexpected proposition: “But we will have to ask ourselves this question: should the French championship stop during the CAN? ». A reaction that goes against what Aurelio De Laurentiis, president of Napoli, said last year: Don’t talk to me about African footballers anymore. I won’t take any more, as long as the African Cup of Nations is organized in the middle of the season. Unless they give up arguing. »
