Tottenham Hotspur head coach Ange Postecoglou has claimed he is unconcerned about the possibility of facing AFCON-bound Andre Onana in next week’s trip to Manchester United.
Onana has been called into the Cameroon’s squad for this winter’s tournament, with the Indomitable Lions kicking off their group stage campaign on January 15.
However, Erik ten Hag has revealed United are in talks with the Cameroonian FA about keeping hold of Onana for the visit of Tottenham on January 14 having already secured permission for him to play in Monday’s FA Cup third round tie away to Wigan Athletic.
At a press conference on Thursday, Postecoglou insisted he doesn’t have a view on United’s attempts to keep Onana and intimated that he’s not phased if the 27-year-old is between the sticks.
“Yeah, I don’t think it’s fair or unfair. Each club can deal with it the way we want,” Postecoglou remarked. “There’s other reasons for these kind of things, but no, certainly, what other clubs do doesn’t affect me or the way I view it.
“Ultimately we’re bound by FIFA rules with these things. We want our players to represent their countries. They are big tournaments they are going to and hopefully they are all successful. More importantly hopefully they all come back healthy. I’ve spent zero time [worrying about the Onana situation], not bothered at all what other clubs do.”
FIFA rules decree clubs must release players participating in this year’s AFCON from January 1 onwards, though they can negotiate with federations about pushing this date back.
Spurs have already bid farewell to Mali’s Yves Bissouma and Senegal’s Pape Matar Sarr even prior to their FA Cup third round clash with Burnley on Friday night, while captain Son Heung-min has jetted off to join up with the South Korea squad for their Asian Cup campaign.
United, meanwhile, have welcomed Casemiro and Lisandro Martinez back to full first-team training following injuries ahead of their upcoming games with Wigan and Tottenham, while Spurs have been boosted by the return of Micky van de Ven after a hamstring problem.
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