Premier League clubs are preparing the let their African players travel to Gabon for the Africa Cup of Nations.
The 16-team tournament begins on January 14th, with the final taking place in Libreville on February 4th. Every two years, teams around Europe hold their breath as their star players represent their own country in the middle of the Premier League season.
Some teams (like Sunderland and Stoke City) will be losing three players, while others (Chelsea and Manchester City) will not have any casualties over the three-week tournament.
Liverpool's Sadio Mane (Senegal) and Leicester City's Riyad Mahrez (Algeria) will be among some of the star names competing, with their clubs hoping the players return fully fit, and maybe even earlier than their country would have hope.
Here is the list of players travelling to Gabon in the coming week for the tournament.
Group A
Gabon: Didier N'Dong (Sunderland)
Group B
Algeria: Adlene Guedioura (Watford), Riyad Mahrez (Leicester City), Islam Slimani (Leicester City)
Tunisia: Wahbi Khazri (Sunderland)
Senegal: Cheikhou Kouyate (West Ham United), Idrissa Gueye (Everton), Sadio Mane (Liverpool), Mame Biram Diouf (Stoke City)
Group C
Cote d'Ivoire: Eric Bailly (Manchester United), Lamine Kone (Sunderland), Max Gradel (Bournemouth), Wilfried Bony (Stoke City), Wilfried Zaha (Crystal Palace)
DR Congo: Dieumerci Mbokani (Hull City)
Morocco: Sofiane Boufal (Southampton), Nordin Amrabat (Watford)
Group D
Ghana: Daniel Amartey (Leicester City), Andre Ayew (West Ham United)
Mali: Bakary Sako (Crystal Palace)
Egypt: Ahmed Elmohamady (Hull City), Mohamed Elneny (Arsenal), Ramadan Sobhi (Stoke City)
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