Senegal will assess in
jured pair Sadio Mane and Diafra Sakho at their Africa Cup of Nations camp to determine if they can participate at the finals.
Southampton midfielder Mane has a calf problem that his club boss Ronald Koeman said has ruled the player out of the 17 January to 8 February event.
Sakho, who plays for West Ham, is suffering with a back injury.
Senegal boss Alain Giresse said both players will join up with the national squad in Morocco for further tests.
Giresse has until 7 January to finalise his squad but revealed he may use a “medical joker” – a provision that allows him to call up a player up to 48 hours before the country’s first game (against Ghana on 19 January) – in order to give Sane the greatest chance of recovering in time.
“We can take the risk, whether he will be operational or not, we will try. We will take a shot at it to see whether he will be ready for at least one game,” said Giresse.
“The desire to get our players fit for the tournament is there. Sadio is a special player given his qualities. We will do everything to make him operational as soon as possible.”
In Sakho’s case, Giresse said the striker “faces a recurring problem” and the Frenchman added that the player will have tests with the national team’s medical staff.
Sakho’s club manager, Sam Allardyce, revealed the player has seen a specialist about the problem but more information is needed.
“He has had all the appropriate scans, but we need to sit down and assess the extent of the injury – has it got any worse since the last time? Is it the same (problem)?” he said.
“With a back problem, it is a delicate scenario, so until we get the full diagnosis from the specialist, we won’t know which will be the way forward.”