In mid-December, 33 Premier League players left their clubs and jetted off to the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON).
We’re not only through the group stage now, but also the round of 16, with the quarter-finals set to start on Friday.
In the latest of our semi-regular round-ups, we bring you up to speed on how many players we can expect to see soon – and who remains in Morocco.
GAMEWEEK/AFCON ROUND OVERVIEW
Before we begin, a reminder of how the AFCON rounds match up with Fantasy Premier League (FPL) Gameweeks:
HOW MANY PREMIER LEAGUE PLAYERS ARE OUT OF AFCON – AND WHEN WILL THEY RETURN?
Just 10 of the 33 who went to Morocco are no longer involved.
Wolverhampton Wanderers’ Tawanda Chirewa (£4.3m) was the only Premier League player whose country was eliminated in the group stage. He returned to the Wolves squad in Gameweek 20.
Here are the other nine whose nations have since been knocked out:
| Nation | Premier League players | Date of elimination |
| Burkina Faso | Ouattara (BRE), Traore (SUN) | January 6 |
| DR Congo | Tuanzebe (BUR), Sadiki (SUN), Masuaku (SUN), Wan-Bissaka (WHU) | January 6 |
| Mozambique | Reinildo (SUN) | January 5 |
| South Africa | Foster (BUR) | January 4 |
| Tunisia | Hannibal (BUR) | January 3 |
Of the above, we’re only expecting the Burnley duo of Hannibal Mejbri (£4.7m) and Lyle Foster (£4.9m) to return in Gameweek 21.
Scott Parker discussed the possibility of their availability for Wednesday’s match in his press conference yesterday.
Regis Le Bris seemed to be talking more about having Reinildo (£3.8m) available for the FA Cup tie against Everton on Saturday, meanwhile.
The other six players above, all eliminated on Tuesday, will also likely be available for the FA Cup this weekend. If not, then definitely Gameweek 22.
WHICH PREMIER LEAGUE PLAYERS REMAIN AT AFCON – AND WHEN WILL THEY BE BACK?
All eight nations that remain at AFCON have at least one Premier League representative.
Anyone eliminated in the quarter-finals, which are contested this Friday and Saturday, very likely returns for Gameweek 22.
Going all the way to the semi-finals means not returning till Gameweek 23. Even if the players’ countries are knocked out in the last four, there’s a third/fourth-place play-off to contest on the weekend of Gameweek 22.
And, if you’re thinking that the eliminated semi-finalists might let some of their players return to the UK early, rather than stay for the bronze medal match, that hasn’t happened in previous tournaments. Yoane Wissa (£7.3m) in 2023, Bertrand Traore (£5.5m) in 2021 and Alex Iwobi (£6.3m) in 2019 are examples of Premier League players who featured in the third/fourth-place play-off.
As a rough gauge, we’ve listed the probability of progress for all eight quarter-finalists, using adjusted odds from a selected bookmaker (bet365):
Morocco and Senegal are the clear favourites to make the AFCON semi-finals, so their players – including Ismaila Sarr (£6.4m) and Iliman Ndiaye (£6.2m) – may not be back until Gameweek 23.
If the bookies’ odds are to be believed, then there’s a greater chance of seeing Bryan Mbeumo (£8.1m), Mohamed Salah (£14.0m), Omar Marmoush (£8.3m) and Rayan Ait-Nouri (£5.7m) in Gameweek 22. Cameroon, Egypt and Algeria are not the bookmakers’ favourites for their quarter-final ties, although there’s not much in it regarding the Pharaohs’ clash with Ivory Coast and Algeria’s meeting with Nigeria.
