Sunderland will be the most affected Premier League team by Africa Cup of Nations call-ups, which could force Regis Le Bris to change his ways.
The Black Cats brought in 13 new faces during the summer transfer window to reinforce their squad in hopes of maintaining Premier League status following promotion from the Championship. 14 considering Marc Guiu, whose loan spell lasted less than a month before Chelsea recalling him.
Of those signings, an incredible seven are African players. Six of them will go to the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations and leave Regis Le Bris with fewer options to choose from over the next four weeks.
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The exception is Simon Adingra, who didn’t appear on the Ivory Coast squad – alongside Villarreal star and former Arsenal man Nicolas Pepe. Both missed out due to alleged ‘sporting and non-sporting factors’.
How will Sunderland deal with mass absences during AFCON?
Regis Le Bris has used 23 different players in the Premier League so far this season. However, two of them are no longer in the club: Patrick Roberts and Jenson Seelt, who are currently representing Birmingham and Wolfsburg on loan, respectively.
So this leaves the French manager with a 21-man squad to work with. It will be interesting to see whether the board decide to sign new players in the start of the upcoming January transfer window to help him storm the weather over the next month or so.
But the thing is that Sunderland are among the four teams with the fewest substitutions made per game in the current campaign. And they are one of only five with an average of under 4.0 per match (Nottingham Forest are the other one).
So factoring in the six players who have left for international duty during AFCON and the tight calendar due to the festive season, it’s likely that Regis Le Bris will have to show more flexibility in terms of squad rotation.
- Chemsdine Talbi (Morocco)
- Habib Diarra (Senegal)
- Arthur Masuaku (DR Congo)
- Noah Sadiki (DR Congo)
- Bertrand Traore (Burkina Faso)
- Reinildo Mandava (Mozambique)
In fact, the same can be said about each of the other three sides above. Everton already don’t have a lot of squad depth quality-wise. David Moyes will have to set his team up without starters Iliman Ndiaye and Gana Gueye.
West Ham have seen first-option full-backs Aaron Wan-Bissaka and El Hadji Malick Diouf depart. As a result, Kyle Walker-Peters will likely have more playing time on the right. On the left, however, 20-year-old Oliver Scarles went off injured against Manchester City and was replaced by 18-year-old Ezra Mayers. Things have looked bleak for Nuno Espirito Santo and losing the pair certainly won’t help.
As for Crystal Palace, it may be ‘just’ Ismaila Sarr who will be absent for the next four weeks. But Oliver Glasner has been complaining about the board not investing more money to strengthen the squad.
They did sign Yeremy Pino as the Eberechi Eze replacement, but he hasn’t lived up to expectations so far. Sarr took on more responsibility this season and is, far and away, their best attacking player. The one who fans have faith in to create something out of nowhere.
Going back to Sunderland, the whole situation may lead to more opportunities to a few players. Chris Rigg had great contributions last season in the Championship and spent most of the year as a starter, but has barely played in the Premier League.
This could be the breakthrough that the 18-year-old needs to reaffirm himself in the starting line-up. Regis Le Bris trusted him to get the nod last matchweek against Brighton and Hove Albion.
Simon Adingra may have missed out on the Ivory Coast squad, but could have plenty of playing time at Stadium of Light.
Dennis Cirkin was also mainly a starter in the promotion campaign last year, but is just coming back from a lengthy spell on the sidelines due to injury. Trai Hume has the versatility to play as right and left-back, but we could see Cirkin back in the mix in the upcoming weeks.
Sunderland will play three games in eight days from December 28th to January 4th, hosting in-form duo Leeds United and Man City and facing Tottenham away. This period could define their season, seeing as they have exceeded all expectations so far, sitting 6th in the league table.
While they do look safe to retain Premier League status, they can never be too careful about rotating the squad to prevent injuries and survive a tight schedule.