Manchester United are expected to lose both Bryan Mbeumo and Amad Diallo when the Africa Cup of Nations kicks off in December. The tournament, which takes place in Morocco, starts over the festive period and runs until mid-January. United won't lose a plethora of players for the competition but the absence of both Mbeumo and Amad will hit the Premier League side hard.
AFPUnited's new-look attack starting to click
Mbeumo joined United from Brentford over the summer as the Premier League powerhouse sought to overhaul their stuttering attack. United only scored 44 league goals last season, the fifth fewest, as strikers Rasmus Hojlund and Joshua Zirkzee hit the back of the net just seven times between them.
United also signed Matheus Cunha and Benjamin Sesko from Wolves and RB Leipzig, respectively, and after a slow start, the attack looks to finally be clicking for Ruben Amorim's side. Indeed, United won their third successive league game last weekend as they beat Brighton 4-2 on home turf.
Cunha scored the opener for United, his first following his summer arrival, while Mbeumo bagged a brace in the victory at Old Trafford. Sesko also recently opened his United account, netting in the defeat to Brentford last month and the 2-0 win over Sunderland at the start of October.
Advertisement'We are going to struggle'
Mbeumo is expected to make the Cameroon squad for AFCON, while Amad will likely make the Ivory Coast selection as the Elephants look to defend their crown in Morocco. And ahead of Saturday's game at Nottingham Forest, Amorim has made a frank admission at the likelihood of losing the pair for a sustained period.
When quizzed about AFCON, Amorim said: "We will have time to suffer. We are going to struggle a little bit, but we already knew it's going to be an opportunity.
"When I watch the training, there are players that should be playing, but it's hard with one game to take some players from the team, because they are doing well also during the training in games. So other players are going to have the opportunity to help us.
"They are understanding the way we want to play, so if we are improving on that, the change of characteristics is not going to change the idea or the momentum of the team. But let's use Amad and Bryan in these games and we will see in general."
Getty Images Sport'We are prepared for a very tough match'
United are back in action this weekend when they make the trip to the City Ground to take on Forest. Forest's first game under newly-appointed head coach Sean Dyche ended in a win over FC Porto in the Europa League, but they lost 2-0 at Bournemouth at the weekend.
And despite Forest's struggles, Amorim admits that United are in for a 'tough' match. "I watched against Porto, I watched against Bournemouth, the style of play is similar, with different characteristics," Amorim said.
"I watched one game that we didn't pre-season with Sporting, so to try to understand how he played in that game. It's similar, he can change some characteristics of the players with the talent that they have, especially with Gibbs-White, Anderson, Hudson-Odoi, very good players.
"So we need to be prepared for a different game against Brighton. We had space to play. We are not going to have that space. You need to understand that we are not being the same team away and at home, so we need to improve the way we control the environment. Every tackle is a big moment for the opponent's fans, so we need to play better away.
"We are prepared for a very tough match."
'It was tough, it was really tough'
Amorim recently oversaw back-to-back league wins as United boss for the first time since his appointment last year as the Manchester side followed up a 2-0 win over Sunderland with a 2-1 victory at Liverpool. And they made it three wins on the spin with a 4-2 home triumph over Brighton.
The former Sporting boss has come under huge pressure during his debut year in England, but United look a far more cohesive unit after a tough opening few months at the Old Trafford helm.
"It was a journey, it was a big journey," Amorim reflected on his first year at the club. "It was tough, it was really tough. I learned a lot. Today the answer is different from three weeks ago so it's important to understand that, the biggest honour. It's only been two matches so far from that."
United follow up Saturday's trip to Forest with a game at Tottenham in the final round of league games ahead of the November international break.