Fulham of England winger, Samuel Chukwueze has added his voice to growing debate about the relevance of Africa Cup of Nations and declared that no one should say anything bad about the competition, Sports247 reports.
While many European clubs are lamenting the long absences many of their players will have while away on international duty during the competition, Chukwueze opined that they should get used to it.
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The product of Diamond Football Academy of Umuahia reckoned further that all clubs should learn to respect AFCON as they do the FIFA World Cup and urged them to accept it as something important for African players to look up to.
He admitted that the timing of this year’s AFCON at the end of the year might not be the best but quickly added that everyone in the world of football should always find a way of fitting into the African schedule, as they do for competitions in Europe and South America.
The former Villarreal of Spain star, who is on loan at Fulham from AC Milan of Italy, added that he personally feels honoured being part of this year’s AFCON in Morocco and urged other African players to develop the same mentality about the competition.
Chukwueze told On Sports TV, “We understand they scheduled it at the wrong time of the year but, when it’s important, if you get called, you have to go. You don’t have any choice.
“Your club can’t stop you, and no one should say anything bad about the AFCON. Yes, they put it at the wrong time, but saying it’s not a good competition or a bad competition is unacceptable.”
Sports247 gathered further that, should the Super Eagles go all the way to the AFCON 2025 final on January 18th, Chukwueze would end up missing six English Premier League fixtures for his club.
However, rather than feel sad about his long absence from club duties, the Chile 2015 FIFA U17 World Cup gold medalist is not worried because he believes going to AFCON is a call to duty.
