Former Nigerian international Finidi George says the decision of Confederations Cup African football to to return the African Cup of Nations back to January might affect the chances of African players moving to big team later in the future.
The 2019 African Cup of Nations was held in June-July for the first time in the history of the competition, however CAF have now decided to hold the 2021 African Cup of Nations in January-February due to poor weather conditions in Cameroon during June and July.
However former Nigerian winger Finidi George has now backed the claims of Liverpool manager Jugen Kloop Sai the decision to move the tournament back to January when European league will be on is catastrophic.
The former Real Betis winger added that the departure of African players from their Clubs in January will surely invite new problems between clubs and country.
“It’s good but I think it’s going to obstruct the European calendar a bit,” George told Goal.
“We had that before and we had lots of complaints and now they are going back to the former arrangement which is certainly not good news for European teams.
“I don’t know how they will take that because we have a lot of African players in Europe and if most of them will leave for [the] Nations Cup – that will create some problems. However, they should be able to figure it out.
“These players are getting well paid and if they are leaving in January when most clubs are struggling or trying to win a league. That will be a problem.” Finidi concluded.
Finidi George was part of the Nigerian team that won the tournament in Tunisia back in 1994 and also helped the Super Eagles to a second place during the 2000 editions.
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