Senegal forward Ismaila Sarr is at risk of missing the Africa Cup of Nations after sustaining an ankle ligament injury while playing for Crystal Palace, Oliver Glasner has revealed.
Sarr was substituted just 38 minutes into Palace's 2-1 Premier League defeat to Manchester United on Sunday, having fallen awkwardly after a challenge involving Diogo Dalot.
Since the start of last season, Sarr has tallied 28 goal involvements in 67 appearances for the Eagles in all competitions (20 goals, eight assists), with only Jean-Philippe Mateta providing more (32 – 26 goals, six assists).
Sarr has also scored four goals in his last five appearances for Senegal, who will look to reclaim the Africa Cup of Nations title in Morocco.
The tournament begins on December 21, with Senegal drawn alongside DR Congo, Benin and Botswana in Group D.
But Glasner has revealed Sarr faces a race against time to be fit for Palace's final few games before AFCON, with this week's trips to Burnley and Fulham definitely coming too soon.
"Ismaila Sarr is out. It doesn't look that bad, but he will definitely miss both games this week," Glasner said.
"We hope he could return before AFCON, but we have to do further assessments and see how the next days go.
"The ligaments are not completely torn, but there are some issues with his ankle ligaments.
"Maybe he returns before he goes to AFCON and plays one or two games for us. We are still hopeful. I know how hard our medical department are working.
"But if he doesn’t progress in the right way — the ankle is very swollen, we have to reduce the swelling — it could be that he misses AFCON. At the moment, either things could happen — he plays for us or misses AFCON."