Key events
Afcon is moving to a four-year cycle, a decision the Confederation of African Football has been accused of forcing through without proper consultation. Ed Aarons and Romain Molina report:
Several presidents of African football federations have told the Guardian they were not informed of the decision until it was surprisingly announced by the Caf president, Patrice Motsepe, on 20 December, prompting claims that the confederation breached its statutes by failing to seek approval at a general assembly.
Michael Butler has revisited the three ages of Michael Carrick at Manchester United, including his managerial debut against Villarreal in November 2021. He won two and drew once in three games as the caretaker manager after Ole Gunnar Solskjær was sacked.
Liverpool’s right-back question, Wolves’ unbeaten run and more in our latest TPs.
Here’s today’s tittle-tattle:
Eddie Howe expects Fabian Schär to be out for three months. The defender underwent surgery on Thursday after sustaining an ankle injury in Newcastle’s victory against Leeds last week.
“He had a successful surgery yesterday which is great news,” said Howe. “Everything went according to plan. It’s difficult to give a definitive but I think roughly around three months will be the diagnosis we’ll work towards. If it’s any quicker then great, but we need to give Fabian time to recover, it’s quite a serious injury.”
Here’s Slot on Mo Salah, who will return to Liverpool after Egypt’s Afcon third-place playoff against Nigeria.
First of all, he needs to play another big game for Egypt on Saturday and then he comes back to us and I’m happy that he comes back. Similar to Andy, Mo has been so important for this club, for me, so I am happy that he is back. Even if I had 15 attackers, I still would have been happy if he would have come back but that is not our situation. Happy to have him back after an important game that he still has to play.
Arne Slot has been speaking to the media:
On Andy Robertson, who has admitted his future at Liverpool is unclear:
I have to give him a big compliment about the things he said. Very mature and I could understand everything he was saying. Every player should have the same feeling about his current position and that’s that he’s not starting every game. But I’m really happy that he also said he finds joy in the position he’s in and that he also understands how important he’s been to this club for all these years.
He did play quite a lot of games, not as much as he probably hoped. But the way he’s been acting and his comments in the media is a big compliment and says a lot about him.
Malen leaves Aston Villa to join Roma
Donyell Malen is on the move. Villa say he has joined Roma for an undisclosed fee … while the Italian club say he has signed on loan with an option to buy. Some clarity would be much appreciated. Malen scored seven goals in 29 games for Villa this season and departs after a year, having joined from Borussia Dortmund last January.
Preamble
Hello, hello, hello. The big story this weekend is Michael Carrick’s second debut as Manchester United’s manager/head coach, and what a task it is: the noisy neighbours at home. How things have changed since his first Manchester derby as a player, a 3-1 victory for United in December 2006, with goals from Louis Saha, Wayne Rooney, Cristiano Ronaldo – and a first and last City strike for Hatem Trabelsi. We’ll be looking ahead to that and much more.
