François Mughe chooses to remain at Marseille rather than honour Cameroon AFCON call-up | OneFootball

François Mughe (19) received a call-up to the Cameroon squad for the upcoming Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON). However, the Olympique de Marseille forward has made a seemingly tactical decision by deciding to remain with his club.

Mughe, who is yet to be capped at international level, has been struggling for game time at Marseille. He has just seven appearances this season, including just two starts. However, he nonetheless earned a place in Rigobert Song’s AFCON squad, and the expectation was that Mughe would join the pre-season training camp in Jeddah.

Laval goalkeeper Samassa also refuses AFCON call-up

Ultimately, however, Mughe will not make the trip but instead remain in France. With Iliman Ndiaye, Ismaïla Sarr, Amine Harit and Azzedine Ounahi all going off to represent their countries at AFCON, Mughe smells the scent of an opportunity to make his way into Gennaro Gattuso’s plans.

OM have said that the decision to remain at the club was made by the player, adding that no game time guarantees have been provided. Mughe isn’t the only player playing in France to refuse an AFCON call-up. Stade Lavallois’ Mamadou Samassa (33) refused his call-up to the Mali squad.

The Ligue 2 club’s president Laurent Lairy referenced a “moral agreement” that the goalkeeper made when he joined the club, where Samassa allegedly agreed to not compete in the mid-season tournament.

GFFN | Luke Entwistle