By Our Correspondent With Agency Report

The Senegalese Football Federation, FSF have vowed to report English Premier League club, Watford to FIFA over the latter’s alleged refusal to release Ismaila Sarr for the Senegalese national team ahead of the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations, AFCON which starts on Sunday

The 24-team biennial tournament will commence on Sunday, January 9 and climax on February 6, 2022 across six cities in Cameroon

The FSF had threatened to report Watford to FIFA if the remain insistent in releasing Starr but the Premier League relegation strugglers have debunked the report claiming that Sarr was injured late last year.

Watford refuted accusations from the Senegalese football federation (FSF) on Sunday of preventing forward Ismaila Sarr from playing in the upcoming Africa Cup of Nations.

The FSF claimed Watford had displayed “disrespectful, pernicious and discriminatory behaviour” towards Sarr

However, Watford believe Sarr, who is currently sidelined with a knee injury and has not featured for the Premier League club since November, is not yet fit enough to feature at the tournament in Cameroon later this month.

The Hornets handling of Sarr’s fellow forward Emmanuel Dennis has also been controversial, with Nigeria saying the English club were “baring fangs” when refusing to release him for international duty.

The Senegalese football federation said it would take “all the necessary action to ensure that the basic right of its footballers to play for their country is respected”.

The federation’s statement comes amid an escalating row over English clubs refusing or delaying African players’ departure to take part in the tournament.

Senegal’s football authorities are accusing English club Watford of refusing to release Ismaila Sarr for next week’s Africa Cup of Nations and will be seeking FIFA’s intervention.

The country’s football federation said on Sunday that Watford told it on Friday it would not be releasing the highly rated midfielder for the tournament in Cameroon which kicks off next Sunday and where Senegal are one of the favourites.

“The English club Watford notified on the basis of spurious arguments its decision to block the player Ismaila Sarr, who has expressed his desire to join the Senegalese selection for the Cup of Nations,” said a statement signed by the Senegal Football Federation General Secretary Victor Seh Cisse.

“The FSF responded immediately to confirm the player’s call-up and the club’s obligation to release the player by no later than January 3.”

It added Senegal would take the matter up with FIFA if “Watford persists in its deliberate refusal to release the player”.

“The FSF wishes to express its deep condemnation of the disrespectful, pernicious and discriminatory behaviour of Watford who seek by all means to prevent a player from playing with his national team.

“Africa, its football and its footballers deserve the same respect as that accorded to other continents, confederations and players. The FSF will take all the necessary action to ensure that the basic right of its footballers to play for their country is respected.”

“This is despite negotiating an agreement that allowed Sarr to join up if Senegal reached the Quarter-Finals.@FSFofficielle have denounced the decision as “reprobate” & “discriminatory”.

Watford responded with their own statement, inviting the FSF to have Sarr checked by their “own independent surgeon to confirm the diagnosis and rehabilitation period.”

“In early December, the Club wrote to the Senegal Football Federation outlining the clinical diagnosis of Ismaila’s injury and immediately followed that up by supplying the MRI scans detailing the extent of the injury,” Watford’s statement said.

“After further consultation with medical experts, we informed the Federation of Ismaila’s rehabilitation process and likely timeframe of recovery.”

Sarr has impressed for struggling Watford this term, scoring five goals in 12 Premier League appearances.

His presence has been badly missed as Claudio Ranieri’s men have lost all six games since he was injured.

Having to free African stars is a sore point with some managers.

Napoli boss Luciano Spalletti labelled the Cup of Nations an “invisible monster”.

However, former England and Arsenal striker Ian Wright labelled complaints over the tournament as “tinged with racism.”

“Is there ever a tournament more disrespected than the Africa Cup of Nations?” Wright said in a video posted on Instagram this week.

“Loads of the best players in Europe right now are African and if we love them at club level, why can’t we love them at international level like their counterparts from across the globe? Why can’t we?”

Senegal, runners-up in 2019, are one of the favourites for the African title.