Boro: No early release for Yakubu
Middlesbrough have dismissed fears that £7.5m (€11.1m) striker Aiyegbeni Yakubu could miss up to 14 matches for the African Cup of Nations.
The 23-year-old has been called up by Nigeria for the tournament, which gets underway in Egypt on January 20, although his country has requested that he is available for a month-long preparatory training camp which starts next Tuesday.
However, Boro will not be releasing their summer acquisition until two weeks before the start of the competition, in line with FIFA regulations.
The Teessiders insist they do not have to comply with any request for an earlier release, and that the Nigerian FA cannot demand that they do so.
Yakubu would be out for up to six games, including the FA Cup third round clash with non-league Nuneaton, if he joins up with the squad on January 6 ahead of his country’s opening match against Ghana on January 23.
But he would have missed many more, including next Wednesday night’s Carling Cup quarter-final against Blackburn at the Riverside Stadium, if Boro had been prepared to release him earlier.
The former Portsmouth marksman has been a big hit on Teesside, scoring nine goals already for his new club.
