In what is certainly good news for Chelsea FC, and not so good news for the countries these players represent, no players currently in the Chelsea FC senior squad will be participating in the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations tournament. The tournament is set to run for a month from January 17th with the final scheduled to be played on February 18th. The tournament has been racked with controversy this year because of the West Africa Ebola scare and Equatorial Guinea have been selected to host it after original hosts Morocco backed out last week.

Controversy or not, only two players under contract with Chelsea FC is set to be there, Christian Atsu of Ghana who is currently on loan at Everton FC, and Bertrand Traore of Burkina Faso who is on loan at Vitesse Arnhem. The Nigerian trio of John Obi Mikel, Victor Moses (on loan at Stoke City), and Kenneth Omeruo (on loan at Middlesbrough) were eliminated today after they drew with South Africa. Nigeria are the holders of the tournament and unfortunately for the Super Eagles they will not be able to attempt to defend their title.

Chelsea FC’s Egyptian superstar Mohamed Salah fought valiantly for his nation today against Tunisia and even scored an important goal but it was not enough to stave off elimination. The state of Egypt’s national team has been in chaos since the 2011 revolution and subsequent temporary cancellation of the Egyptian domestic league. The Pharoahs have been unable to recover from that debacle and the seven-time AFCON champions will not qualify for the third tournament in a row. This has been a tremendous fall from grace for a nation that won AFCON three tournaments in a row from 2006 to 2010.

The only other player eligible in the senior squad for an AFCON squad is Didier Drogba but he retired from the Ivory Coast national team after this summer’s World Cup. While it is unfortunate that neither Mohamed Salah or John Obi Mikel were able to qualify for the tournament it is good news for the Blues who will have the depth needed for a busy winter schedule.

Salah is rumored to be on his way out of the club so this news may help inflate his fee a bit if he is available for a month longer than originally expected. Mikel is constantly tied to other clubs in transfer rumors but nothing seems to happen so we will assume he is staying past at least the January window.

All that talk of transfers and disappointing qualifying campaigns aside we should focus on the two players that did qualify. Best of luck to the two Chelsea boys representing the Blues in the Africa Cup Of Nations and we hope they return to their loan clubs fit, healthy, and perhaps with a winners’ medal.

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