With a day to go for the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations kicks off, we take a look at the players La Liga clubs are set to lose during the tournament.
UEFA’s top-ranked league is not exactly full of African players at the moment, and traditional giants Barcelona and Real Madrid’s squad feature a total of zero footballers hailing from Africa.
As a result, you would be hard-pressed to find a La Liga team that will suffer any significant absences during the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations in Gabon- Granada are the only club in the league with two tournament-bound players, and only one of them features in the starting eleven regularly.
Scroll through the list below to see the players that will be leaving their clubs on national team duty over the next 30 days.
Atlético Madrid
Thomas Partey – Ghana
Position: Midfielder
Age: 23
Photo: Denis Doyle/Getty Images
Deportivo La Coruña
Fayçal Fajr – Morocco
Position: Midfielder
Age: 28
Photo: Alex Caparros/Getty Images
Granada
Victorien Angban – Ivory Coast
Position: Midfielder
Age: 20
Mehdi Carcela-González – Morocco
Position: Midfielder
Age: 27
Málaga
Bakary Koné – Burkina Faso
Position: Defender
Age: 28
Youssef En-Nesyri – Morocco
Position: Forward
Age: 19
Photo: Malaga CF
Real Betis
Aïssa Mandi – Algeria
Position: Defender
Age: 26
Valencia
Aymen Abdennour – Tunisia
Position: Defender
Age: 27
Photo: David Ramos/Getty Images
Villarreal
Cédric Bakambu – DR Congo
Position: Forward
Age: 25
