Until now, FC Bayern had assumed that they would have to do without three established professionals at the start of the second half of the season. Unlike Min-jae Kim (Asian Cup with South Korea) and Noussair Mazraoui (Africa Cup with Morocco), Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting will probably have to stay at home: the veteran is surprisingly missing from Cameroon’s final tournament squad.
On Thursday, national coach Rigobert Song’s squad for the 2024 Africa Cup of Nations, which will be held in Ivory Coast, was published by the Cameroon Football Association. 27 players are part of the list, but Choupo-Moting is not.
“We all know that he is an important player. But we have to make decisions,” said Cameroon coach Rigobert Song when announcing his squad. The former 1. FC Köln professional relies primarily on players who earn their money in France.
Choupo-Moting, who was born in Hamburg and played for Germany up to the U21 level, has been scoring goals for Cameroon since the summer of 2010. He scored 20 goals in 73 international matches and took part in three World Cups.
Bayern coach Thomas Tuchel is unlikely to find the striker’s unexpected removal inconvenient. In the past few months, the German record champions have had a lot of pressure on their personnel, and three national team departures in January would have made the situation even more complicated.
Choupo-Moting’s contract with FC Bayern expires
Choupo-Moting moved from Paris Saint-Germain to FC Bayern on a free transfer in 2020 in order to give the then goal-getter Robert Lewandowski a breather.
After the Pole went to FC Barcelona, Choupo-Moting was promoted to Munich’s regular nine for a while. Last summer, however, a new top man, Harry Kane, was added and is the undisputed seed.
Nevertheless, Choupo-Moting was used in at least 19 competitive games in the first half of the season, scoring three goals. His current working paper on Säbener Straße expires at the end of June.