An Egypt star has officially pulled out of the national team after recently completing his move from Al Ahly to a top-five European league.
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Mohamed Abdelmonem joined Ligue 1 giants OGC Nice from the Club of the Century last week for a fee in the region of €4.2 million (R82.6 million).
The 25-year-old made his debut for his new side on Sunday, playing 22 minutes in their 4-1 victory over Angers.
However, the central defender will not be commemorating the transfer by playing for the Pharaohs during the ongoing international break.
The Zagazig native was originally included in Hossam Hassan's squad that is set to commence its 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualification campaign against Cape Verde and Botswana, but has now pulled out of the squad.
The reason for this decision is because he wants to further acclimatise to life in France, having not had a pre-season with Nice.
According to KingFut, the Egyptian Football Association has issued a statement confirming that Hassan has accepted Abdelmonem's apology for not joining the national team.
One of Ahmed Hegazy, Ahmed Ramadan, Rami Rabia or Khaled Sobhi are expected to deputise for him during this phase of AFCON qualifiers.
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Abdelmonem is, however, not the first high-profile Egyptian to ask to be withdrawn from duty with the record African champions since Hassan has assumed responsibility of the national team. Liverpool superstar Mohamed Salah made a similar request earlier this year when called up for friendlies against New Zealand and Croatia.
