Senegal coach Aliou Cisse says international football – and the Africa Cup of Nations in particular – should never play second fiddle to club commitments and has ‘challenged’ Napoli not to buy African players.
The 46-year-old’s comments come after Napoli owner and president Aurelio de Laurentiis said the Italian club will avoid signing any more African players unless they agree not to play in the biennial tournament
“A football player can play for 12 teams, say, but will only have one national team,” Cisse told BBC
“Clubs will never be above our flag and our national teams. And every Senegalese who plays in Europe, wherever he will be, if he is competent I will call him to defend the colours of the nation.
“I have a lot of respect for (De Laurentiis) but I challenge them to try to not recruit African players.”
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