Ghana international midfielder, Alfred Duncan, has officially been ruled out of the Africa Cup of Nations in Egypt, with an ankle injury he sustained two months ago, Citi Sports can confirm.
Duncan, who was set to play a key role in Kwesi Appiah’s team for the biennial competition, had a lengthy phone call with the coach on Sunday in which he informed him of his unavailability.
Duncan has been carrying the injury since the beginning of the year and has been playing through the pain barrier for the last 4 weeks.
The 26-year-old brought the injury to his last national team assignment against Kenya and Mauritania in March and Sat out 3 weeks of action on his return to Italy.
Reports claim that Kwesi Appiah has known of Duncan’s injury situation all along and has constantly maintained contact with the player throughout this period.
It is understood Sassuolo doctors have decided the former Inter Milan youth star needs time to treat the injury to prevent further aggravation.
A decision on whether he will require surgery will be taken after Sassuolo’s last match of the season against Atalanta on Sunday. Meanwhile, Head coach of the Black Stars, Kwesi Appiah, will not reveal his squad for the Africa Cup of Nations this week, as it was widely reported.
The Ghana Football Association revealed in a statement last week that Appiah would name a provisional 30 man squad for the tournament to be staged in Egypt from June 21.
Ghana has already lined up friendly games with South Africa and Namibia in Abou Dhabi, where they are expected to pitch camp.
The games are said to have been fixed for June 6 and 9 in the United Arab Emirates where the Black Stars will pitch camp ahead of the tournament.
The 30-man squad is expected to be trimmed down to 23 players following the two week camp in Dubai.