Marseille to lose Andre Ayew to Afcon
Olympique Marseille will only lose one of the Ayew brothers to Ghana for next year's African Nations Cup after Andre was named to the 26-man preliminary squad but his younger sibling Jordan was left out on Thursday.
Real Madrid midfielder Michael Essien, who asked to be excused last month in order to concentrate on his club career, was omitted.
The squad, featuring 11 players from the group knocked out in the semifinals by eventual champions Zambia last year, will be cut down to 23 players after a training camp in the United Arab Emirates, where Ghana will play friendlies against Tunisia and Egypt, the Ghanaian FA said on its website (www.ghanafa.org).
Ghana will seek a fifth title in the tournament in South Africa from January 19 to February 10.
Forward Jordan and midfielder Andre Ayew, a nominee for the African player of the Year award, have both played a big part in OM's good start to the season, having each scored four goals from 16 appearances.
Marseille are third in the standings with 32 points from 17 matches.
