{"id":443656,"date":"2011-06-18T16:28:23","date_gmt":"2011-06-18T16:28:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/2011\/06\/18\/sunderland-snubbed-john-mensah-sulley-muntari-over-africa-cup-of-nations\/"},"modified":"2011-06-18T16:28:23","modified_gmt":"2011-06-18T16:28:23","slug":"sunderland-snubbed-john-mensah-sulley-muntari-over-africa-cup-of-nations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/06\/18\/sunderland-snubbed-john-mensah-sulley-muntari-over-africa-cup-of-nations\/","title":{"rendered":"Sunderland Snubbed John Mensah, Sulley Muntari Over Africa Cup of Nations"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><div>Sunderland have hinted that he opted not give permanent deals to Ghana players John Mensah and Sulley Muntari because they will play at the Africa Cup of Nations next year.<\/p>\n<p>Coach Steve Bruce says he wants to avoid signing African players this summer because of the forthcoming tournament in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea.<\/p>\n<p>Striker Asamoah Gyan, Benin\u2019s Stephane Sessegnon, Ahmed Elmohamady of Egypt and Nigeria-born Nedum Onuaha could all play for the tournament, which runs from 21st January until 12th February.<\/p>\n<p>Mensah and Muntari were at the Black Cats on loan last season from Lyon and Inter Milan respectively and were keen on permanent deals this summer.<\/p>\n<p>But the Black Cats boss feels he cannot afford to have significant numbers of his squad unavailable at a key stage in the season.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen you are choosing players, you never consider their nationality, only the question of whether they\u2019re good enough and that\u2019s still the case with us,\u201d Bruce said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut certainly, as things stand, we would be reluctant to sign players from African nations because, looking ahead to next season, it would be a real worry.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe competition also comes at a time \u2013 end of January, beginning of February \u2013 where it\u2019s a really testing time for your squad anyway.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf we had the same injury crisis next year as this year and then lost half-a-dozen players to Africa for three weeks, we really would be goosed!<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m aware of the situation and it\u2019s something we\u2019ve addressed \u2013 you don\u2019t want to lose a load of players at one fell swoop.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It was thought there was an agreement in place for a permanent deal for Mensah and Muntari at the end of the season but Sunderland opted to release them.<\/p>\n<p>Bruce could then not explain publicly why he opted not to hand the duo permanent deals at Sunderland \u2013 a club both players adore.<\/p>\n<p>But his anxiety over the timing of the Africa Cup of Nations has influenced his decision on African players this summer.<\/p>\n<p>The tournament falls in the middle of the European football calendar.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/p>\n<p>[Read more here|View the original here|More|More|Read More|Read More|Read More|Read More|Continued here|More here|View original post here|More|See more here|See original article|Originally posted here|Visit site|See the original post||See the original article here|Read the original post|Original post|Read the article|See more here|Read the original|Link|Excerpt from|Taken from|View post|Visit link|Follow this link|Continue reading here|Continue Reading|See the article here|Read this article|View article|<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> Sunderland have hinted that he opted not give permanent deals to Ghana players John Mensah and Sulley Muntari because they will play at the Africa Cup of Nations next year. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":443658,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-443656","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.0 - 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