Tony Pulis says losing Allan Nyom for January would be a big blow
Tony Pulis has admitted that losing defender Allan Nyom during January would be a huge blow.
The 28-year-old defender has been called up by Cameroon for the Africa Cup of Nations that runs from January 14 to February 5.
Although he is one of seven players who has told coach Hugo Broos he doesn't want to feature in the tournament, the Cameroon manager has threatened to ask FIFA to ban Nyom from club football for the duration the tournament.
Even though it is unlikely that FIFA will impose such a restriction, today, Baggies boss Tony Pulis seemed resigned to losing his new left-back after this weekend's double-header.
"Allan's been called up and if Cameroon want him, they want him, so he'll be off after the Hull game," said Pulis. "He'll play the Hull game and then be off after that.
"It will be a massive miss for us because he's done fantastic. He's been a real good player for us and he's another good character.
"The lads have taken to him and the supporters like him a lot, so it will be disappointing for us to lose him."
When Pulis was asked if Nyom was planning to go through with the snub and stay in England, he said: "That's a thing for Allan and the manager. It's his country.
"The last thing we want to do as a football club is stop people playing for their country. I don't want to get into those politics."
Albion are still unsure if Nyom will miss part of January because of the Africa Cup of Nations, although he is definitely available for tomorrow's trip to Southampton and Monday's home game against Hull.
"He was a good signing," added Pulis. "The great thing about him is he's moved from right-back to left-back and done exceptionally well.
"As a matter of fact, the one game we played him at right-back he did better at left-back than he did at right-back for us. He's done well, we're really pleased with Allan."
Pulis was interested in Leicester's Jeffrey Schlupp and Leeds United's Charlie Taylor in the summer, and despite Nyom's impressive breakthrough, he's still keen to buy another left-back.
However, he hinted that it would be an area he looked at in the summer, rather than the upcoming January transfer window.
When he was asked if Nyom had fixed his left-back problem, he said: "No, I'd still like to get strength in depth in every position and that's one of the positions I want to bolster, maybe not this window but moving on."
