Onana's AFCON absence explained as Man Utd allowed to delay Cameroon call-up
Andre Onana will be available for Manchester United's Premier League game against Tottenham - 24 hours before Cameroon kickstart their Africa Cup of Nations campaign.
The 27-year-old has not missed a minute for United this season, starting in each of their 29 matches, including Monday's 2-0 FA Cup win over Wigan. And Onana is set to continue in the sticks for the visit of Spurs on Sunday after the club delayed his call-up to international duty.
United reached an agreement with the Cameroonian FA earlier this month to keep Onana up until January 14. This meant the former Inter Milan goalkeeper would be available for the trip to Wigan and the game against Tottenham, before jetting off on a seven-hour flight to Ivory Coast ahead of Cameroon's AFCON opener.
Cameroon face Guinea in their first Group C game on January 15 at 5pm UK time, which is less than 24 hours after United's game against Spurs will finish. Rigobert Song's men then go head-to-head with Senegal on January 19 and Gambia January 23 to complete their group stage schedule.
There is a possibility that Onana may not miss any United matches while at AFCON, however. If Cameroon don't progress out of their group (top two go through), then Onana could be available for United's FA Cup fourth round tie against Eastleigh or Newport, which will take place on the weekend of January 27.
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Erik ten Hag's side have a two-week winter week after their game against Tottenham and do not have a fixture scheduled up until the FA Cup fourth round. In fact, the Red Devils do not have another Premier League until February 1 when they make the trip down to Wolves.
Andre Onana will face Tottenham on Sunday (Getty Images)Should Cameroon go all the way and reach the final on February 13, Onana could miss up to four United matches, including a crucial-looking game against Aston Villa.
However, unlike most Premier League clubs - who were given a deadline of January 1 to release their players ahead of the tournament - United will have Onana available to face Spurs.
Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglou has since been quizzed on the situation. "Yeah, I don’t think it’s fair or unfair," Postecoglou said. "Each club can deal with it the way we want. 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."
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