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11th January 2024
11:19am GMT
Andre Onana has been accused of "sending a bad message" after he chose to remain with Manchester United later than planned.
Onana was selected for Cameroon’s 27-man squad for the upcoming tournament in the Ivory Coast but opted to delay meeting up with his teammates.
The ‘keeper played in Manchester United’s 2-0 win against Wigan Athlete in the FA Cup Fourth Round on Monday.
He had initially reached an agreement with the Cameroon officials that he would leave on January 14 to link up with the squad, allowing him to play in the game against Spurs before flying out.
Cameroon face Guinea in their opening group game a day later however given the quick turnaround from landing to playing he’s now likely to miss the game due to the short turnaround in-between games.
Former Cameroon defender Sebastian Bassong, who played 15 times for his country, believes his choice will only lead to more people disrespecting the competition.
"That sends such a bad message, not only for Cameroon, but for the respect people will have for the Africa Cup of Nations and for the way they should treat us, the equality," he told the BBC.
"If we don't even respect ourselves how can you expect other people to treat you any different. I like Andre, I'll always have his back when I have to, but when things like that happen.. the nation, the pride of the country and the continent is way an individual person."
His main motivation for wanting to delay his arrival was down to his fear of losing his starting spot to current number two Altay Bayindir
Onana could return to United having not missed a single game if they are eliminated from their group, which contains: Guinea, Senegal and Gambia.
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