Manchester United blog..

There cannot be that many Chelsea or Arsenal fans who think that the African Cup of Nations is a worthy tournament given its god awful timing, it starts on January 20th and runs until the February 10th. The winners of the 2008 competition, which is being staged in Ghana, will represent CAF at the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup - another pointless FIFA competition? Why can't the 2008 competition be played in August when the average temperature is at its lowest point in the year? Or is that too simple for FIFA and the CAF?

No doubting Fergie and many other United fans will be quite happy about the fact that the international football calendar is out of sync with European football, given that United could be among those Premier League clubs who might benefit from rivals like Chelsea and Arsenal losing so many star names for a crucial period of the season.

Some clubs will no doubt think twice about signing young players from the African continent due to the timing of the African Cup of Nations.

Arsenal will lose the following:
Eboue
Adebayor
Song
Toure

While Chelsea could lose:
Drogba
Essien
Obi Mikel