Manchester City is likely to be without Yaya and Kolo Toure for Sunday’s FA Cup derby against Manchester United.
Roberto Mancini believed that the pair would be granted permission to join Ivory Coast squad for African Cup of Nations a bit later than expected, but his hopes have now suffered a bitter blow.
The Ivory Coast squad is set to meet in Paris on Saturday before they fly to a training camp in Abu Dhabi and it now seems that Toure brothers will be on the plain.
“Clubs know the rules,” Ivory Coast coach Francois Zahoui told BBC Africa. “I’m expecting them (the Toure brothers) for the FIFA deadline.”
If the news are confirmed, the Italian manager will have major selection problems on Sunday, since Gareth Barry is suspended, while Mario Balotelli and Owen Hargreaves are injury doubts.
“We have 17 players,” said Mancini. “I do not know how it is going to work. I always said we could have a problem in January. Yaya is an important player for us.
“Kolo is different. We have eight defenders and if we are lucky, we don’t have any injuries. In midfield we have a big problem. On Sunday we only have James Milner and Nigel de Jong available.”
Considering the circumstances, the odds of 3.60 (13/5) offered by Victor Chandler on Manchester United look too good to pass.
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